I Could Be Your Hero
by jennylovestowrite
Summary: The War is over - but not everything is going to be easy.      Follows DH to a point, but disregards the Epilogue completely
1. Prologue

Eighteen year old Draco Malfoy sighed as the music ended and the screen faded. He hated to admit that he enjoyed the muggle contraption as much as he did, but it truly was something that he had thoroughly grown to enjoy. He laughed ironically to himself thinking about how different he truly was from his father. His father had scoffed anything remotely resembling something that muggles would use, and here he was, enjoying one. If his father could see him now. It just seemed to be another one of the many things that had changed in the world since the end of the Second Wizarding War. Things that had once been the thing that had mattered the most didn't really matter at all anymore. Families had been torn apart, friends had turned against each other. It seemed as if there was no one who would truly be the same anymore after all that had happened.

Of course, some were more affected by it's outcome than others.

He leaned his head back against the sofa and remembered the time he had first caught sight of the contraption. It seemed so long ago, and yet so recent.

*Flashback*

_Hermione had made sure that she had gotten Dumbledore's personal permission before packing her so-called "muggle belongings". She knew that these things were often frowned upon, but Dumbledore believed that such items were in no way a danger to the wizarding world and had agreed that it was fine. With the aftermath of the war being the way that it was, it felt that it was a way that could possibly help merge the gap between the two worlds. She had decided that this year, being Head Girl, she would need something to occupy her on those nights after the homework was done and she had nothing else to do. Being the researcher that she was, it didn't take long to figure out that some of the damage that had been caused to the castle reduced it's effects on these types of electronics, as well as the effects the electronics would have on the castle. It seemed that some of the magic that had originally been set in place by Salazar Slytherin himself, were now reduced to almost near nothing with the final destruction of his last heir. By doing a little of this and a little of that, Hermione and some of the other Professors were able to make it work much the same as the slide Projector that Professor Snape had used in third year worked in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The few test runs had worked well, although both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall wanted to keep it under wraps a bit so that the younger students didn't start to get new ideas._

_She had already been in a less than thrilled mood when she realized that the person she would be spending Head duties with was none other than Draco Malfoy himself. She knew she just had to put the idea behind her and get on with things, because after all, this was her last year at Hogwarts, and didn't want anything, including Draco Malfoy, to spoil that for her._

"_You really want me to share duties with that... I mean, with Malfoy?" Hermione asked, remembering who she was talking to._

_Professor McGonagall, as usual, stared down at Hermione. "Miss Granger, I do ask that you try, at least, to work on getting along with Mr. Malfoy. I know due to...erhm, recent events, that may not always be easy for you."_

_Leaning down, she whispered, so only Hermione could hear her, "Try to be a little easy on him, Miss Granger."_

_She had just started to unpack her things when she heard his voice from behind her._

"_What is that thing?" Draco asked, half-intrigued, half-bored as Hermione pulled out the contraptions._

"_Nothing you'd be interested in, Malfoy, so just leave me alone."_

"_How do you know I wouldn't be interested in it?" he asked, in a tone of voice she had never heard, at least from him, that was. He sounded almost… sad._

_She sighed as she fought the urge to roll her eyes. "It's a muggle invention. Dumbledore gave me special permission to bring it along." She paused, as if waiting for him to make a remark about muggles._

"_Alright, but you still haven't told me what it was. I know it's a muggle invention, but that doesn't help me too much, you know," he said after he realized that she probably wasn't going to say anymore on the subject._

_Hermione shook her head and took in a deep breath. She usually had patience for just about anyone, but she had grown so accustomed to Draco being mean, rude, and downright hateful to her that it was hard to just forget those things._

"_It's called a DVD player, Draco. You use it with this, which is called a television, and you can watch movies, that's these things, on it. Movies are like, well, sort of what muggles use instead of pictures that move. I don't really know how to explain it any better than that."_

_He watched as the bag holding the items unpacked itself and the small television, which sat at a mere thirteen inches was enlarged to more than 60. She then muttered some more charms, causing the two to connect themselves._

_After that, they just kind of stood there for a moment in silence._

"_You can try it if you want," she said, with a forced smile, remembering what Professor McGonagall had said to her._

*End of Flashback*

He thought it was ironic how she had originally brought it with her to keep herself occupied during the nights, and now, here he was, the one who was always using it, because he had nothing better to do.

"I'd better get used to it," he thought. "It looks like this is pretty much all that I am going to be doing for the rest of the year".

He waved his wand and the DVD switched over to something else. He had to hand it to the muggles. They certainly knew how to make entertainment. They had yet to fail to make him laugh, and cry, and get angry. He could get caught up in the story lines and forget everything else that was going on around him. Which was good, he supposed.

He was in the middle of probably the fifth movie that he had watched that evening, laughing and crying along with the characters, when he heard the door that opened up to their common room open, and then immediately slam shut.

He sighed. It wasn't the first time. He didn't know which was worse. The fact that Granger was actually dating Weasley, or that even though they might call it dating, they seemed to spend more of their time fighting. There hadn't been a night in the last week, if not longer, that the door hadn't slammed at some horrific hour because of a fight. Tonight was going to be no exception.


	2. Chapter 1

Draco sighed and tried to put it out of his mind. After all, didn't this happen every night?

His mind started drifting, and before he could stop it, he found himself wondering what she saw in Weasley. In fact, it was something that he had often wondered, but just never voiced it.

There was certainly no love lost between Ron and himself. In fact, during the past few months, it had even seemed to worsen, if nothing else. Once the war had ended, and summer, if it could even be called that, had taken place and then ended, all of the students, those had attended during the preceding school year and those who hadn't (which included Draco, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and a handful of muggle-born students) were sent letters, which resembled the yearly Hogwarts letters that they had always received, which read:

Dear (insert student name here)

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding is offering a chance to make up for the interruption of studies during the preceding school year. Enclosed you will find items of your requirement for the following year at Hogwarts. If, for some reason, you should chose not to return to your education, kindly please disregard this letter.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

For the first few days that Draco had had his letter, he hadn't wanted to return. After all, would he even be allowed to return after everything that had happened? He had laughed sarcastically to himself at first, thinking that it was probably a cruel joke that he'd received a letter in the first place, and that if he had tried to return that he'd probably be laughed off the school grounds, if he were to make it that far. Probably wouldn't even be allowed to board the train.

He glanced at the clock and realized it was later than he had thought. He made his way towards his room, stopping in his tracks before he was halfway there.

"What the -" he said, as he caught sight of the mess. Whatever the items had been originally were practically unrecognizable.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice saying, "A smart one, that witch. Didn't want anyone to know what she was doing. Muffled the sound of everything going every which way. Ha ha, which way, witch, get it?"

The painting on the wall never failed to try and joke each and every night. He was usually able to ignore it, but this time, he knew it was right.

He shook his head. It was just like her, to muffle the sounds of her throwing things everywhere.

"Reparo," he whispered, with a flick of his wand, and things started to heal themselves.

He repeated with scourgify to help clean what reparo was unable to help.

After everything had put itself together, he stared into space for a moment, just wondering what could have caused her to do anything this drastic. Especially since he had noticed the books that had been lying on the floor, out of their covers. Under any normal circumstances, she never would have done anything like that, at least not to books.

With a sigh, he headed toward his room once again. Though this time, on the way, he could hear muffled crying, sounding as though it was coming from the bathroom.

She remember to put a muffilioto charm on the kitchen, but forgot to put it on herself, he thought to himself, shaking his head. Typical.

There was just something about the sobs he heard that made him pause. They weren't normal, regular crying. It was as though someone was putting all of their soul into their tears.

"Are you alright in there?"

Silence.

He tapped louder.

The only answer he got this time was louder sobs.

He flicked his wand and light flashed as the door creaked open.

She was huddled on the floor, sobs racking her body.

He paused for a moment, not really sure what to do.

It should have disturbed him greatly, to have compassion for other people's feelings, but it didn't, however. Which felt strange, but at the same time, it was almost as though a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

*Flashback*

He felt as though he had been run over by a truck. Wait a minute, he thought. What the bloody hell was a truck? Why did that word even come to mind? He shook his head and figured he'd try to figure that out later.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked around him. Where was he?

He started to focus more on his surroundings, and he vaguely remembered seeing this place before, and hearing it called Hogwarts. Why did that name seem to be so important?

It didn't look like much, he thought. Like it had been through a war or something -

Then it came back to him. Hogwarts was the school that he had been attending for the past few years.

Then there had been a war. A war that he wished that he didn't have to remember, and there were many parts of it that he couldn't remember. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Bits and pieces of what had happened started coming back to like sudden surges of lightening, and none of it was pretty.

He remembered crouching in a corner, hidden by a column of the wall, peering to the other side to see what was going on. He remembered seeing his mother cast aside with a stunning spell like a piece of garbage by the one they all called The Dark Lord. Or Voldemort. Or He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named. Or You-Know-Who. The list went on. It was at that moment that he saw his father do something that no one would have expected him to do.

He had rushed over to his fallen wife, and was completely outraged as he pulled her into his arms. His face, which had usually help such a look of support toward The Dark Lord, turned to a look of disgust, the look that he usually reserved for those that he felt beneath him. Mud-bloods. Muggles. House elves. And of course, Harry Potter.

"How could you?" he asked, staring him straight in the face, for the very first time ever.

Voldemort just stared right back and started laughing.

"Very simply. Like this," he said, pointing his wand.

Green light flashed, striking Lucius straight in the chest. Since he was holding onto Narcissa, the impact of the hit was thrust upon her as well, and since she had been stunned previously, there was no hope for her.

Draco tried to shut the images from his mind.

He looked at all of the beds around the room, seeing all of the different people lying in the beds and all of their friends and loved ones, and for the first time, realized that he was alone. Utterly, totally, completely alone.

He lifted himself up slightly, resting on his elbows and looked at the bed that was straight across from him.

Harry Potter was laying in that bed, surrounded by, at least it seemed like, everyone who had survived, that wasn't lying in bed themselves.

The remaining Weasley's were standing there, as well as Hermione Granger, and loads of other classmates, friends, teachers, everyone.

What is it about him? He thought. Why does everyone love him so much? Draco fought back the urge to sneer.

Then he remembered. Harry had saved his life.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he screamed as Harry grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down just in the nick of time to avoid a flying killing curse.

"Saving your life," Harry said, with a crooked grin.

"Why?" He couldn't believe that he even asked it, but it was out before he had a chance to change his mind.

"Good, or bad, you're still a person."

He fell back against the pillows and shut his eyes. Maybe he was a person, but it wasn't like it was doing him any good.

"Malfoy?" a familiar voice whispered a few moments later. "Are you awake?"

"Who wants to know?" he retorted, barely opening one eye.

"Give it up, Malfoy, there's no one around who cares to be impressed."

That voice could belong to no one other than Harry Potter. The boy who lived. The boy who… the boy who saved his life.

"Why'd you do it? Huh? Was it so that you'd be able to finish me off yourself later, when there was no one around to save me?"

"As much as you have infuriated me, Malfoy, I didn't think you deserved an end like that."

"Why not? It's not like there's anyone left to care whether I'm dead or alive. My parents are dead, my aunts and uncles and cousins are dead, my friends are dead. I should be dead too," he practically spat out like it tasted bad.

Mrs. Weasley appeared by his side in an instant, popping on the head with her wand.

"Don't you DARE say that, Draco Malfoy! Don't you know lucky you are to be alive? After all, there are others who aren't as… aren't' t as…" she trailed off, unable to finish because she was crying so hard.

Mr. Weasley led her away, and Hermione jumped in.

"She just lost her son, Draco. Have some compassion."

This time, I didn't do anything, he thought.

She was practically up in his face, mere inches away.

"What? Going to finish the hex you started back in third year? Be my guest."

The blow that came after that definitely did not feel good. He raised his hand to his cheek, trying to stop the sting.

"You could never change," she hissed out. "No Malfoy ever could, or would."

She walked away and he could only stare after her.

He felt Harry put his hand on his shoulder and glanced over, almost shrugging it off by instinctive reaction.

"I meant what I said before," he said, staring across the room.

"What? That I didn't deserve and end like that?"

"No. Way before. The fact that whether you're good, or bad, or whatever you are, you're still a person."

For the first time in ages, Draco was actually able to smile.

"I guess that could go for you, too, Potter."

Harry smiled and shook his head. Many things had changed, many lives were lost and things wouldn't and couldn't ever be the same. But there were some things, like Draco Malfoy's attitude that would probably never change.

*End of Flashback*

They were wrong, he thought. Draco Malfoy did change. And it felt good.


	3. Chapter 2

"Granger," he called softly, keeping his gaze locked on the frame of the door, "Granger, why are you-what are you so hysterical over..?" He could almost curse himself, if he were into that sort of thing, for stumbling over that. Just because he had compassion for people didn't mean that he had to sound like an idiot.

Still there was no answer, almost as if she wasn't even there. He had the urge to say something crass, but bit his tongue, deciding that if he were going to give a new meaning to the Malfoy name, he needed to start out on the right foot. He ought to make sure that his approach wasn't as boorish as they had always come across. He decided to go for a different approach.

"Hermione..." Her name on his lips, the sound of it coming out in his own voice was so alien to him. Yet, at the same time, it felt so right. He then realized, that in almost seven years, this was the first time that he had ever said it.

Get a hold of yourself, Malfoy, he thought.

For the first time, she finally glanced up at him, her eyes, swollen, red and puffy, seemed to dig deep into his soul.

The silence was almost earth shattering, however ironic that was.

"Why are you in here? Is it too much to ask of you to leave me in peace?" she said, furiously wiping the tears from her face.

The venom in her voice was enough to strike. If it had come from a snake, he'd have been dead in mere seconds. For a moment, a hint of the old Draco was rising to the surface. However, he held back the retort that he felt coming on.

Letting his gaze fall, he stared at the floor, not sure of what to say. Then finally he whispered, "Maybe it's because I was actually worried about you." He turned and walked out of the bathroom so fast, that he may have not even have been in there at all. He didn't stop moving until he was safely inside his own private dormitory and had slammed the door behind him. It wasn't until he sat down on the bed however, that he realized how much he was shaking.

He stared out of his own private window, thinking about everything from his parent's deaths to his complete turnabout, that still had him confused. He couldn't really explain it, other than the fact that it just felt right. He knew he would never be explain it, especially to anyone else, because he couldn't even explain it to himself. There was just something about almost being hit by a killing curse that made you see life from a different perspective.

Not to mention watching his parents being cursed to oblivion by the one that they respected the most. Respected… he didn't even know if that was the best way to describe what it was. Hell, he didn't even know what it was, other than there had never been a time in his life when mention of The Dark Lord wasn't part of everyday presence. His first words had probably been "Dark Lord" rather than Mummy and Daddy like every other child out there.

He became so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even hear the door creaking behind him. Nor the footsteps across the floor.

"Malfoy?" he heard a voice whisper, so low that it was barely audible. "Malfoy?" it was louder this time, but that wasn't saying much.

Then he heard it.

"D-Draco? I'm - I mean… I'm sorry," she blurted out, and then ran from the room.

He still didn't budge. Why should he? She hadn't seemed to appreciate it that he had come to check on her in the slightest. He couldn't understand it. Finally, though, he could stand it no longer, and started walking toward the door. To do what, he didn't know, but whatever it was, was soon gone from his mind the moment he saw the parchment laying on the floor.

Out of pure curiosity, he picked it up. Just because he had changed his ways didn't mean that he couldn't be nosy, did it?

The next morning, when Draco entered their common room and headed into their private dining area (a room was set aside off of the common room for any use, really, but was most often used by at least one of them for a private breakfast), he noticed that Hermione was already in there.

Up until that time however, Hermione had rarely used it, choosing to spend her breakfasts with Ron, and leaving Draco to himself.

That in itself was another ironic matter - she had been made prefect and now Head Girl because of her dedication to school and her studies, and would have a place where she could study without being disturbed, and now that she had the chance to do all of that, she rarely took advantage of it.

Without looking in her direction, Draco seated himself at the end of the table, as far away as he could be, while keeping to himself. He laid down the piece of parchment that he had picked up the night before on the table and slowly slid it in her direction.

She didn't even notice it was coming her way until it hit her elbow. The sudden intrusion made her look up sharply and look in his direction with disgust.

That was when she realized what it was that he had given back to her. The look on her face was indescribable. She snatched it up so tightly in her hands that her knuckles turned white.

"I supposed you couldn't resist reading, it could you?" she hissed. "No one can!"

She started to get up from the table, but this time, he wasn't going to let her get away that quickly. He reached for her hand to pull her back to a sitting position, and the warmth of his touch halted her in her tracks.

"You don't have to go," he whispered, still not letting go.

She could only stare at him.

"I mean it. Don't go."

She finally found her voice.

"Why?" she asked. They held each other's gaze for a moment.

"Why?" she asked again. "Why are you making it so hard for me to hate you?"

He had wondered that himself. Why was he trying so hard?

Then it hit him. He didn't even realize he was doing it.


	4. Chapter 3

Their eyes locked for a moment before she jerked her wrist away.

However, he noticed that she didn't rush from the room this time.

"Do you hate me that much?" he asked, barely louder than a whisper.

"Why do you even ask me that?"

"I thought…well…that maybe…"

"Maybe you thought wrong."

He noticed, however, that her voice wasn't quite as venomous as it had been the night before.

"You know, you don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Her eyes narrowed so much they were almost completely closed.

"I knew you read it! I can't believe you. Actually, I can. I shouldn't have expected anything less."

He gave her a small smile. "Regardless of what you say, I don't you don't completely hate me. I heard you come in last night. You tried to apologize."

Her face turned red. How did he get to be so perceptive?

"You dropped it on the floor on your way out, I suppose. I picked it up and was going to hand it to you. I couldn't help but see what it said."

"I'm sure you couldn't," she said, but it seemed as if much of the fight had left her voice.

The silence in the room built around them as he stared into her eyes.

"I'm serious. Don't let anyone tell you what you have to do. You're seventeen. Let it be your choice. After all, look where listening to people and worrying about what they think got me."

It was the first time that he had ever made a mention of any of his feelings aloud. He still wasn't sure exactly how he felt about it.

However, he kept talking, finding that talking about it really did make him feel better, especially when it was someone who knew how to string together more than two words.

"I was always told that how I needed to be, what I needed to do. I was afraid to do anything that might get back to my father. He had basically spelled out to me how I needed to act and who I needed to be, so I…" he trailed off, ending with a shrug.

Her eyes seemed to soften a bit as she looked at him, but it was more as though she was looking through him, rather than at him, lost deep in thought.

"They really do mean well," she said, finally. "They just don't understand. And Ron, well, I don't even want to go there," she practically spit out the last part of that.

He rolled his eyes. "I figured that Weasel - Weasley, had something to do with this."

Her eyes got hard and narrow again. "Don't - don't call him that."

"You still care about him. You can try and deny it all you want, but I can see that it's there."

Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes looked sad, as though she had just pretty much given up. "I don't know anymore. I just don't know." It came out as barely a whisper, and he didn't know if she was even aware that she had said it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I mean... you don't have to, but-sometimes I talked to Zabini. Most times, I talked to Crabbe and Goyle when I had things on my mind." He smirked, though his heart was torn askew by the tragedy only months before. Crabbe was gone. Despite his lack of sense, no one deserved such a horrible death. "They couldn't really understand a thing I said, but I didn't carry it alone. It helps."

That seemed to open up a new outlook, for both of them.

She smiled at him, a small, downcast smile, which was probably the first smile that she had ever given to him in the years that they had known each other.

"What else is there to talk about? You read the letter. You know that my parents are hoping that I will get over my 'magicness' and head off to a real university. Though you probably don't even know what that is."

He raised an eyebrow. "Give me some credit, Grang-Hermione," he said, her name still feeling strange coming out of his mouth. "I may have been sheltered in the wizarding world, but it doesn't make me an idiot."

"Sheltered?' she sputtered out. "You call, whatever all that is... or was- or whatever you do or did- or whatnot being sheltered?" She started laughing.

"Go ahead. Laugh at my expense, why don't you. You know what I mean. just because I've never lived among the mud-Muggles, doesn't mean that I don't know anything."

She shook her head. "Fine, whatever. Anyway, so that's what they want for me. After all this time, I thought that they had accepted that I was the way that I was and weren't going to try to change me." She snorted. "I should have known better."

He began to wonder if getting her started on this topic had been a mistake. She certainly seemed to talk a lot when she got started, but at the same time, he realized that he didn't really mind. In fact, he, well, he liked it.

"They're dentists, you know. Well, you may not know what that is - they, well, they take care of people's teeth, and it looks as though they are wanting me to follow in their footsteps."

She sighed. "I don't even like teeth. I have always detested my own teeth, much less taking care of others people's teeth."

He laughed.

"I guess it is pretty funny, isn't it?"

"The best part, though," he said, "is the fact that you're smiling. You do realize that it's the first time you've smiled in weeks."

"I didn't know you were looking that closely."

"I don't have that much to do these days. Not to mention that I'm pretty observant. While we're on this honesty kick, I guess you should know that I've heard you come in in the evenings. Upset and crying."

"You just can't help yourself from spying on me, can you?" She started to sound defensive again. Just by looking at her, he could see her body go tense.

"What did you expect? Me to just lock myself up in my room and hide?"

"It'd be nice. It's the least you could do."

He rolled his eyes.

"So what's up with - between the two of you anyway? Or is that none of my business?"

"Even if I said it wasn't, you wouldn't leave me alone about it, would you?"

"Probably not."

"You just don't know when to stop, do you?"

He stayed silent a moment, before he started to speak again.

"Do you realize that this is the first time, in seven years, that we have actually had a conversation?"

She stared at him. "You were the one who called me a mud-blood. You're the one who thought I shouldn't be here. Besides, I don't recall you ever wanting to have a conversation with me."

"I'll admit that I did my fair share of - things. Yet you called me ferret-boy."

Her lips twitched as she remembered that priceless time back in fourth year when the one they had all thought was Professor Moody had turned him into a ferret.

"You can't say that you didn't deserve it."

"Professor McGonagall didn't seem to think I did."

"You forget that I was the one who had gone to get Professor McGonagall. Not to mention that she's too nice to let her true feelings show."

"Do you always have to get in the last word?"

"Usually."

"Are you trying to change the subject on me so I won't ask more questions?"

"Evidently it didn't work. I'll make a bargain with you, Mal- Draco." Apparently saying his name was as hard for her as her name was for him.

He tilted his head to show her that he was listening as he finished shovelling some breakfast into his mouth.

"I'll talk to you if you'll answer a question for me."

"I thought you were talking to me."

"That is exactly why I never bothered to! You can't even let me finish!"

"I'm just joking, Granger. Give me a bloody break."

She shook her head. "I knew talking to you was pointless. That's why I never did before."

"I'm sorry, alright? What's your question?"

"Why did - I mean how - bloody hell, Draco. Why are you being so nice? What is it in for you to start being so nice to everyone? It's really creepy, you know."

"You know how you're upset because your parents want you to do something that you don't want to?"

She nodded.

"I wish I had that opportunity. My parents are dead. I saw them murdered in front of me. If that doesn't put your life in perspective, I don't know what does. Then your precious little friend decided to be my hero and save me. He jerked me to the ground to make me avoid a killing curse. It wasn't meant for me, I don't think but Aunt Bellatrix was the one who sent it that direction. It put a new perspective on everything I do, everything I say. Just remember that - next time you're upset because they want you to do something you don't want - be glad you still have them alive."

Hermione was speechless. What could she say? She knew that the Malfoy's were dead, but hadn't gotten all of the details. Now she wished that she would have, before she had asked that. She didn't even know that it had been Harry who had saved Draco's life.

"So what happened between you and Weasley? I answered your question, you get to answer mine now."

After what he had said, her problems seemed pale in comparison. It almost embarrassed her to bring them up, considering they were nothing compared to his.

"I - we, well, I think we were happier before. You know, as friends? Then, once I got the letter from my parents, it just made things worse. I made the mistake in telling him about it, and he got all upset and told me that it wasn't up to my parents to decide anything for me, that I was seventeen and should be able to make my own decisions."

She looked over and caught his eye.

"That probably sounds ridiculous to you, after all, I said I felt the same way, didn't I? But it was more than it. Not to mention that it's different when I say. After all, it's my parents, and my life. It was the fact that I didn't even tell him how I felt before he started telling me what to do. How did he even know that I didn't want to go? That was what hurt the most. All those nights you said you heard us fighting? That's what it was about. Last night was the final straw. It's not even fun being with him anymore. We can't do anything without it getting brought up."

"It's not ridiculous," Draco said. "He's supposed to be there for you, to support you."

"Are you sure that you're really Draco Malfoy? Because I think you've switched personalities with someone else."

"Not quite, Hermione. I've just grown up." He stared into her eyes. "I've also realized where my priorities in life lie and that I have a lot to make up for."

He had finished eating by then, gathered his books for class, and was out the door before she could say another word.

She stared at the door after it closed with her mouth open. What had just happened?


	5. Chapter 4

Hermione couldn't get his words out of her mind all morning. She had been dazed through her earlier classes, but had made it through them without issues. It wasn't until Potions class that disaster struck.

"Miss Granger?"

Her head snapped up and for the first time in her school career, she had no idea what it was that she was being asked.

The class snickered, Ron included, she noticed as she asked, " Could you repeat the question, please?"

"I was merely taking the roll, Miss Granger," Professor Slughorn said, frazzled.

She was mortified, and felt her face go as red as the inside of her robes. She buried her head in her text book and didn't lift it up until class was over. As soon as class was dismissed, she rushed out the room. She made it to the adjoining corridor where she could finally be alone. Very few knew that this corridor existed. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She buried her head in her hands and let the tears fall. What was happening to her? She had always been so on top of her studies, the student that all teachers were proud to have in their class. Not to mention being Head Girl. She was supposed to be setting an example for the younger students, and now all she was doing was setting an example of what not to do.

She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she glanced up out of the corner of her left eye and stifled a groan. Why? She asked herself. Why was this always happening to her? What had she done to make all this happen.

"Are you alright? I didn't know what to think when I saw you bolt out of the classroom," Draco's voice asked her. She couldn't tell if he was asking out of pity, or because he cared. At that moment, she didn't know which would be worse.

She stared at him. "What do you think? That I make a habit of making exits like that? Besides, why is it any of your business anyway?"

He gave her that smile that she just couldn't quite understand.

"Sometimes it's nice to have someone that understands."

For some reason, his saying that just made her angry. After all, wasn't it his fault this had happened in the first place? If he hadn't said what he'd said that morning, she wouldn't have been thinking about it and none of this would have ever happened. She was quickly deciding that she hated men. They caused nothing but trouble.

She wiped her eyes and stood up and grabbed her things. Not giving Draco a second look, she rushed off in the direction of her next class.

Slytherins and Gryffindors didn't have any other classes the rest of the afternoon, so seeing her there was out of the question.

Apparently she was avoiding everyone and stayed out of the Great Hall for dinner that night, so it wasn't until all of the students had gone off to their common rooms and then to their dormitories, that Draco was about to head to the common room to retire for the evening. Lately, Hermione had buried herself in books, trying to make up for what she had neglected earlier in the year.

Tonight was no different as Draco was seated at the desk across the room, trying to get his own work done, though he couldn't seem to concentrate. The nagging thought in the back of his mind told him that he was wrong, but he wouldn't listen. He chalked it up to all of the studying that he had done earlier in the year. That and all of the movies that he had watched.

The evening turned into night, but neither of them made a move to head to their rooms. Hermione only sighed, as though she realized just how much work she did in fact have to do. No way did she want to have a repeat of class earlier that day.

Draco walked over the bookshelf that was against the wall and happened to look over in her direction when she pushed her hair out of her eyes and continued reading through her huge textbook.

Hermione was submerged in the book and seemed oblivious to his staring at her.

How come it had taken him so long to notice her? he wondered. Like a girl. Had he really been that consumed by his anger, his hatred so strong, his family obligations and fears of what would happen if he didn't act the way that he was excepted to act, that he allowed it to cause all this?

Suddenly, without warning, Hermione closed the book with a snap, causing Draco to jump.

"Why are you always staring at me?" she asked. "Every time I look up, you are always looking at me. Have I grown another head or something? Are you biting back a remark that you can't resist saying?"

"No. I just couldn't -"

"You just can't help spying on me, can you? That's what all this is about, isn't?"

"You look so content," he told her. "I just can't help it."

"Well, stop it, alright? It's creeping me out."

He didn't stop, however. He moved closer to her, and crouched down on the floor next to her desk and stared into her eyes.

She rolled them. "What do you want now?"

"This."

He cupped her chin in his palm and brought his lips to hers.

She resisted at first, pulling way, but slowly allowed her resistance to fade.

"Don't fight me, Hermione. Please," he asked huskily against her ear.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to forget everything, except for the feel of his lips against hers.

He kissed a trail from her lips to her ear, causing her to suck in her breath.

He began to nibble on her earlobe, causing her stomach to flutter. No one had ever made her feel that way. Not even Ron.

She banished the thought. Now was not the time or place to think about him.


	6. Chapter 5

Draco stared at the ceiling that night, trying to figure out what had come over him. Why had he kissed her like that? Why had he kissed her at all? That was what he really couldn't understand. But, regardless of all that, he couldn't get the taste of her lips off his mind.

After tossing and turning for what had seemed like hours, Draco gave up on sleep. He kicked the covers off his feet and sat on the side of the bed. He was wide awake and knew there was no point in trying to get to sleep now. It was times like these that he wished that there was someone, anyone, to whom he could talk to. Not that anyone would believe him. Part of him didn't even know what to believe himself.

He walked to the common room and sat on the sofa and flipped on a movie. It was almost ironic to how much he had come to start to depend on them. Some things would never change.

Meanwhile, Hermione was doing the same in her own room. Why did she allow him to kiss her? Most importantly, why did she seem to have liked it? She just couldn't seem to shake it. She had sworn to herself that she hated him, that everything was his fault, and then she allowed him to kiss her. She sighed. The worst part of the whole thing was that she enjoyed it. That's what bothered her the most.

The quiet was about to kill her. She couldn't take it anymore. Thoughts were pouring across her mind, with questions that she jut couldn't answer. At least not yet.

With a sigh, she climbed out of bed and headed to the common room. What better way to loose herself than into a mindless comedy?

She grabbed a blanket on the way and wrapped herself in it. Once she got to the common room, she plopped on the sofa, only to realise that Draco was already there.

She didn't know whether to slug him or run from the room. So she settled on neither and glared at him.

"Why do you always have to be where I'm at? Always? It's like you have a tracking device on me or something."

He stayed quiet and allowed her to talk. It seemed to always make her feel better.

She paused, and looked right at him. "Aren't you even going to answer me?" he looked at her a moment before speaking.

"I'm not sure if I should. It seems that every time I open my mouth I get in trouble"

She opened her mouth to say something, then immediately closed it. He had a point, she realised, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Don't deny it, Hermione. You've practically bitten my head off every time I've said a word all year. Lately, it has only gotten worse."

Again, she started to protest, but stopped. She knew he was right. That was all there was to it.

"You…you're the one who kissed me earlier! Are you going to try to deny that?"

He had a sly smile cross his face. "No. But, you can't deny you enjoyed it."

Her face turned pink. How dare he mention that!

You're…you're…" she sputtered. There was no word to describe how vile she found him at that moment.

"I'm what?" he asked holding back a chuckle. "A damn good kisser?"

By now, her face was bright red.

"How dare you…you…"

He closed the space between them so that they were almost touching.

She swallowed nervously, but didn't break her gaze.

Draco moved back first.

"You can relax, you know. I'm not going to attack you."

She didn't say anything. What could she say?

He moved to one end of the sofa and glanced at the other end. "You can sit down. I promise I won't bite."

"Sometimes I'm not so sure," she muttered, but sat down anyway.

It was just a kiss, she told herself. If you ignore him, he'll give it up in a few days.

Hermione wrapped herself in the blanket and settled back on the sofa. That was probably the best thing to do, she thought, as she closed her eyes.

The movie was still playing, but Draco didn't really notice. His eyes had drifted over to where Hermione was laying, eyes closed, snoring softly.

He watched her hand curl around the cushion and knew he could sit there for hours and just watch her. Was this how life was supposed to be, he wondered?

He lifted himself off the sofa and tired to figure out how he was going to do this. Finally, he put one arm under her knees and one behind her head and carried her toward her room. He had never been inside her room before and hadn't really known what to expect. It didn't look too different than hers, except where he had green, she had scarlet and where he had silver, she had gold.

He laid her gently on the bed and pulled the covers up around her. She sighed in her sleep and rolled over, but didn't wake up.

As he headed back to his own room, he thought, maybe being the good guy had its payoffs after all.

He climbed back into bed and pulled the covers around him. He still wasn't sure if he'd be able to sleep, but he knew he definitely had more to think about now.

Why was he so unable to get her off his mind? Through the years he had dated plenty of the Slytherin girls, and had been with Pansy for what seemed like forever until her remarks during the war that had basically repulsed the sight of her for him.

Yet none of them had quite held his attention the way that Hermione seemed to. She was definitely different, there was no getting around that, but there was more. Maybe she wasn't beautiful in the regular definition of the word, but it didn't make her unattractive.

He realised that he was fighting to keep his eyes open at that point and finally gave in to the sweet call of sleep.

He hoped the morning would bring light to some of the questions that he was so desperate to find answers for.


	7. Chapter 6

Draco felt as though he had just laid his head down, when he found himself awake once again. He knew that there was no way it was possibly morning. After all, the sun wasn't even up yet, was it? He closed his eyes once again as the event so the previous night was playing through his mind, reminding him painfully of what happened if he tried to think to much before he had properly woken up.

He could feel the sun shining in through the window and knew he might as well get up now.

He made his way to the bathroom and was glad he had made it first. Grabbing a green towel from the cupboard, he closed and locked the door behind him and turned the water on full blast.

Once it had reached the desired temperature, he climbed underneath the water and let the blast hit his body.

He stood there, just letting the hot water hit while he tried to clear his mind.

It was only after he decided he was starting to look like a prune did he decide to get out.

He wrapped in the towel and began his daily regiment of fixing his hair.

He almost jumped out of his towel when he heard Hermione's voice behind him. "Leave it," she said with a yawn. "It looks nice that way."

He stared at her, open-mouthed. There were some people who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but it seemed that Hermione woke up on the nice side.

"Are, are you talking to me?" he asked.

She yawned again. "I don't see anyone else in here but the two of us, so I guess so. After all, I figure that you must have been the one who put me to bed last night, so I figured I could at least be civil in return."

"You are a piece of work, Granger," he muttered, as he started to brush his teeth. After he had finished, he grabbed his things, leaving her to her own things.

Back in his room, he started dressing for the day.

The school uniform hadn't changed in all the years he had been at Hogwarts, except for the school ties and winter scarves, which had definitely been an improvement. They seemed to fit the rest of the school atire better, even if the only people who were ever going to be looking at them were other students who were wearing the exact same thing.

He threw his robe on over his clothes and walked to the door, pausing only a second to look in the mirror. Hesitantly, he ran his fingers through his hair, trying out the tousled look Hermione had commented on. He had to admit it that it did seem friendlier than his usual slicked-back-do.

Before he could change his mind, he left the room. Stopping by the table to grab a quick breakfast, he had hoped to leave before Hermione came in for an odd reason, it seemed as though overnight, they had switched places.

Hermione was staring at herself in the mirror and couldn't believe what she had said to Draco. Was she absolutely mental? Telling him to leave his hair alone while he stood in front of her wearing only a towel? She was seriously losing it. That could be the only explanation.

What was he going to think of her now? Why did she even care what he though about her?

Because he's Draco Malfoy, said a little voice in the back of her head. He completely has the power to destroy your reputation and the credibility you have worked so hard to build up over the years.

On the other hand, he had been nice to her coming to check on her after class. Not to mention, she blushed at the thought, he really was a damn good kisser.

If it were anyone else, it would be easy to just go with it. But this was Draco Malfoy. The former Death Eater. The one who had always called her a mud blood. How could she just forgive and forget so easily?

Then her face turned into a scowl. Then there was the whole Ron thing. She truly had no idea what she was going to do about that.

On the one hand, she missed him. They had always had fun together, but of course, that had been before they started dating.

On the other hand, he had been a giant pain in the as ever since this fiasco had stared. If she wanted to be truthful, it had started before that, and she had just turned a blind eye.

She thought about how, during that past summer, when Ron had first kissed her, and how it had completely caught her off guard, even though she had been hoping for it for awhile.

Then Ron's jealousy streak had kicked in, and had accused Hermione of snogging Harry behind his back, which had caused a rift between them all, when in reality, all Hermione had wanted to do was buy a present for Ron and wanted Harry's input on it.

Maybe that was why she had been so shaken by Draco's actions. He and Ron were as different as night and day, but she was starting to think that she liked Draco's night different the best.

After she had dressed, she headed to the common room, half-hoping that Draco would still be there, half-hoping that he would already be gone.

Once she got to the room, she thought that he was gone and she was half-relieved, half-disappointed. Hen she saw a flash of blond hair over the chair and her heart started thumping.

"Stop it," she tried to will herself, taking deep breaths.

Suddenly, Draco froze, his hand holding his fork in mid-air and stared at her.

"What did I do this time?"

Her eyes widened and she swallowed. Had she really said that out loud?

"N…nothing. I was just thinking out loud."

He arched his eyebrow at her like he didn't believe her, but decided to let the subject rest.

They sat down to eat the rest of breakfast in silence.

Hermione's mind was thinking about the day ahead. She knew that no matter what, she couldn't have a repeat of the day before. There was no way that she ever wanted to go through that again.


	8. Chapter 7

After they had both finished eating, they both waited, as if hoping that the other would leave before they did. Finally, after a long silence, which turned into almost a staring match, Hermione finally cleared her throat and said, "I... we should probably head on to class. If we're both late, it definitely won't be setting a good example."

Not to mention it'll get rumors started, she thought, trying to send the thought from her mind.

He nodded. He stood up and grabbed his things and headed to the door.

"After you," he said, stepping aside to let her walk through first.

"Thanks," she whispered, rushing down the hall.

She hadn't made it more than about twenty feet, when she mentally slapped herself for trying to rush away from him, when they were heading to the same class.

They walked into Charms moments before they would be considered late and Hermione took her usual seat. It wasn't until a few moments later that she felt a shadow over her and glanced up to see Draco standing next to her, motioning as though he wanted to sit down.

He moved his eyebrows toward her, as though asking her without speaking if it would be fine if he sat there.

She hesitated for a moment, not sure if it was the best idea, until she realized that Ron was already there and had taken a seat across the room sitting with... she squinted her eyes. Who was that he was sitting with?

"Hermione?" Draco whispered this time, almost urgently, tapping the table.

She nodded distractedly as he took the seat beside her, on her right.

Harry who was seated at her left, took a double take.

"What is he doing?" he asked, completely baffled by what was going on.

She shifted in her seat, pushed her hair over one shoulder and said, "Sitting down for class."

And without meaning to, her eyes drifted to where Ron was seated. Harry immediately followed her gaze and slightly nodded his head as he though had it figured out.

Sometimes he really wished that Ginny could be in some classes with him. But then, at times like this, he was glad that, if they were having differences, that they wouldn't be broadcast toward the entire year.

Hermione tried not to let it bother her, and tried to ignore it, however, she couldn't quite keep herself from looking over ever so often.

It also didn't help that, because of the way that they were sitting, that every time she started writing, her arm would knock into Draco. She began writing furiously, which caused her to hit his arm more and more, until she had enough of it and shoved his arm out of the way.

He sighed, but let it pass. After all, he seemed to finally have made a bit of headway with her, and then after last night, he had probably thrown all of that out the window.

When they had finally been dismissed from class, she grabbed her things, rushed out of the room, leaving him alone at the table with Harry.

They shared a glance, and for the first time asked each other at the same time, "What's going on with her?"

Harry stopped and said, "You know, Malfoy, I'd love to be able to blame you, you know. In the past, nothing would make me happier. However, I know for certain that this time it isn't your fault."

That was definitely not something Draco was expecting to hear, and it confused him a little. Never had he expected to see the day when Harry Potter, Harry Potter, was nice to him. He still hadn't quite accepted the fact that he'd saved his life, and this, well, this just added more confusion to the mix.

"Is this something new... or has she always been like that?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged. "It comes and it goes, I figure, I'll never truly understand her, nor any female really, so I do the best that I can."

The silence was there again, and then, as he reached to pick up his books Draco asked, without looking up, "Is she alright... I mean really alright?"

"Alright? What do you mean by - " but he was cut off at that moment while Ron walked by, giving Harry a dirty look and continuing out of the classroom.

"You mean, with her and Ron?"

"Yeah, that was what I meant at first. But what's up with you and Weasley? It seems like, all of you were so close and now you're..." he trailed off, feeling as though he had just asked that question.

"I'd really rather not talk about it, Malfoy. Nothing personal, it's just..." Harry started walking off, leaving Draco trailing behind for the third time that day.

Later that day, as they were leaving History of Magic, Hermione heard her name.

"Hermione! Wait up!" called Harry.

She stopped and waited for him to catch up with her.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you in awhile. How are...things" he asked vaguely.

"How do you think? I'm sure he's told you by now."

"Who? Ron?" asked Harry, looking confused.

"No. I um, nevermind," Hermione said, flustered.

"Well, I mean, I really haven't seen you much since…" he trailed off, but she knew exactly where he was going with this. Since Ron had accused her and Harry going behind his back, the two had kept their distances, hoping to pacify Ron. It had really thrown Harry into a bind, being a snag between his two best friends

"There's not much new, really. I've been trying to keep busy, just sorting things out, you know."

He nodded slightly. "How's working with Malfoy going? He treating you alright?"

She turned pink but Harry didn't seem to notice.

"He is …he's fine. Different really. How come you never told me you saved his life?"

Now as Harry's turn to turn pink.

"It seemed kind of a private thing. I mean, he was already dealing with so much, I didn't want people, Rita Skeeter of all people, to start saying something about how 'The Boy Who Lived' or 'The Chosen One' saved the life of a Death Eater. You know what she is like. There is no telling what would have gotten said."

She looked at him, but didn't say anything.

"I didn't mean to have hurt your feelings it was just…"

"I understand, Harry."

He looked surprised, but just gave her a thankful smile.

They looked at each other a moment in silence.

"How are things with you and Ginny?" she finally asked, not knowing what else to say.

"We're good. Really good. I thought things may be a bit awkward for her, with the way Ron has been acting, but she has handled it like a champ."

For a moment, that kind of made her sad. Not necessarily because she was jealous of Harry and Ginny, but because she wished that could happen to her. She had thought she had found it with Ron, but now..

She must have been lost in her thoughts longer than she thought, because she realised that Harry was staring at her.

"Hermione, are you sure you are alright? You seem to be a million miles away, Malfoy even asked me if you were alright, and then there was class the other day…"

"Can we please not talk about that? I have tried to forget about it."

Harry looked very taken aback. Very really had she ever gotten this way and usually it was directed at Ron.

Seeing the look on his face, she immediately wanted to take it all back. Just because she was pissed off at the rest of the male race didn't mean she had to take I out on Harry. He hadn't done anything to her - yet. It didn't serve a purpose to alienate pretty much her only friend she had left.

"Things certainly have changed, haven't they?" she finally asked, trying to fill in the silence.

He nodded. "I never really expected things to turn out like this."

That was an understatement.

"We had better get to class," she said. Even though their next class was Care of Magical Creatures, it was not really the best idea to show up late to Hagrid's class. he would already done enough for them; he didn't need to let them get by with being late to class on top of everything.

"I guess," Harry said, standing up. They headed that way, in silence at first.

After a few minutes, Hermione turned to him, so quickly, that he almost fell face forward trying to stop in time to avoid running over her.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you, Harry. I'm just...I just have a lot going on. There's a lot of stress, what with the way that Ron has been acting, and trying to get through classes, and Dra-Malfoy, I just..."

"Did you just call him Draco, Hermione?" Harry asked, practically flabbergasted. While he himself had been able to think of Draco in a civil manner, he had been under the impression that it was going to take more, much more, for Hermione to get past some of the issues and problems that they had had in the past.

"So what if I did? He shares a common room with me. I don't really want to go around calling him Malfoy the rest of his life, you know."

"I just wondered... I mean, he sat down next to you in class, you let him, I just thought that maybe..."

"No. There is no maybe. Ok? Can we drop this please?" she felt like her voice was shaking and really hoped that Harry didn't notice.

Harry just arched his eyebrows. Women, he didn't think that he would ever be able to understand them. He used to not be able to understand why they were always together in little groups, and then later why it seemed that they always had to go to the bathroom together, and now, here was Hermione, the one girl he thought that he actually had some idea of how to understand her who had once again, as usual, proved him wrong.

They had apparently been walking faster than they thought that they had been, because before Harry knew it, they had arrived.

Ron was already there, and Hermione tried to ignore him the best that she could. It was a torn situation and she still had no idea how she felt.

Care of Magical Creatures was a joint class with the Slytherins, she felt as though every class she was taking this year was joint with them, so not only was she going to have to ignore Ron -again - she was going to have Draco in there also, which was definitely not going to be the easiest of classes.

Draco had stationed himself away from everyone, which made things awkward for Hermione. She just couldn't quite understand it. First, he practically begs to sit next to her, now he tries to ignore her. She still hadn't figured out exactly how she felt about the whole situation, but she knew she couldn't continue to go on like this. The past few days seemed like an eternity and she felt she would explode if this kept going.

Hermione badly wanted to confide in Harry, but at the same time she still felt a bit awkward about the entire thing. Sure, Harry had been the one to originally try to get her to change her mind about Draco, but that was still big a difference.

Then it seemed that Hagrid decided to have them work in pairs. Hermione hoped she could work with Harry.

"Hermione, you can work with Ron here," Hagrid said, and she realised that he didn't have any idea that there was tension between them. She looked horrified. Ron looked like he had swallowed one of Fred and George's inventions.

Hagrid didn't seem to notice however, and kept going.

"Harry, you can work with Malfoy."

Hermione felt her blood run cold. He would not dare…would he?

Hermione and Ron were both attempting to try to get things done without looking at or speaking to each other. Which worked until Ron forgot to hold the mouth closed on the ebber horned mini dragon, causing it to reach over and take a bite of Hermione's finger.

She finally had enough. She slammed down her textbook and glared at him.

"You…you stupid, inconsiderate, good for nothing, low down, piece of…" she hissed, causing Harry and Draco, who were working at the next table to look over and stare.

The two of them got so caught up in watching what was going on, that their own ebber horned mini dragon ended up taking a bite out of Harry's finger. However, he was too engrossed in what was going on that he simply just shook his finger trying to get rid of the pain.

Hermione's voice rose ever so slightly and it began to squeak.

"You... you're..." she continued, not being able to string a sentence together because she was angry. So angry, that the tears began to fall, and she started sobbing right there.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare.

All three of them - Harry, Ron and Draco, were stunned because none of them had any idea how to handle a hysterical female. Hagrid, who finally seemed to notice that something was going on stepped forward, but had the same look of frustration on his face, as he also had no idea how to handle a hysterical female.

Draco had grabbed her around the waist, the only thing he could think of to do in hopes to somewhat calm her down, and she tried to kick and scream to make him let her down, and ended up catching him in the shins.

"Put me down!" she seethed, trying to reach for her wand. He held her tighter hoping to prevent her to be able to reach for her wand.

Hagrid back up, and, like he usually did in the situations like this, became flustered as to what to do. "Class dismissed!"

The other students starting moving, but it didn't stop most of them of staring and gaping at the four of them.

Ron, who had been glaring at Hermione, was now shooting daggers toward Draco. Harry stepped in hold him back, and for the first time in his life, Ron punched Harry.

Luckily, but that time, they were the only ones who were left. .

Hagrid suddenly found himself with a sour looking Ron, an out of control Hermione, Draco holding the out of control Hermione and Harry, holding his face in disbelief. He scratched his head and leaned in toward Harry.

"Is something the matter between Ron and Hermione?"


	9. Chapter 8

Hermione had managed to avoid Draco for the rest of the afternoon, ever since he had finally put her down. Then the evening rolled around and they were once again together alone.

Draco was leaned over his work, and for once, Hermione was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry for kicking you earlier. I didn't mean to make such a scene."

He kept his head down for a moment because he literally had no idea what to say. She had him completely baffled. Sometimes she hated him. Sometimes she kicked him. Then sometimes she seemed to actually maybe, like him.

She knew he had heard her, but it bothered her that he didn't answer. In fact, it downright infuriated her. How dare he act like that.

He could feel her staring at him. Good, he thought. Let her see how it feels.

He looked up suddenly, scaring her when he slammed the book.

"You didn't like it too much, did you?" he asked, when she jumped.

"What are you being mean to me? You've been so nice lately…"

He cocked an eyebrow. "So you are finally going to admit it?"

"I never actually denied it."

"But you did. Over and over again."

"You were right, you know," she whispered, practically in his face.

"About what?"

"That you are a damn good kisser," she whispered, meeting his lips with hers.

He pulled back slightly to gaze into her eyes.

"Why do you do this?" he whispered.

"Do what?" she asked.

"This," he said. "Change your attitude like turning on and off a faucet. You hate me one minute, then the next you are throwing yourself at me."

"I never threw myself at you," she protested, but he stopped her.

"What do you call this then?" he asked, pointing at the two of them.

"I call it - you taking advantage of me, is what I call it."

Draco snorted. "Taking advantage of you? Hardly."

"Maybe I want you to take advantage of me," she whispered, so low he could barley hear her. For a moment, he didn't think he had heard her correctly.

He tiled his head to the side and started.

"I think I am going mental. I could have sworn I just heard you say you wanted me to take advantage of you."

She stared at him, biting her lip so hard she drew blood.

"You did. I did - I mean…"

"So you did…" he trailed off.

Her face lost all colour at that moment. Was he planning on - no, he couldn't - could he?

Her heart hammered in her chest as he moved closer. What was he going to do, she wondered.

He leaned into her ear. "Did you want me to do this?" he whispered, brushing his lips across her cheek toward her ear. "Or this?" as he gently nibbled he rear. "I know you certainly didn't mean this, though," he finally whispered, as he kissed down her neck. She started to squirm and he couldn't tell if it was a good squirm or a bad squirm.

"You certainly didn't mean anything like that, did you?"

She swallowed, because at that moment, she didn't' know what she wanted. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was sure that he could see it.

"You don't have to be afraid, you know," he said, with a mock roll of his eyes.

She arched her eyebrow apprehensively. Then, as though he could read her mind, which she figured that he probably could, he said "I know I probably haven't given you much of a reason to. I never gave anyone." he shook his head. "I don't know why Harry saved me. I didn't deserve it. He should have let me die."

"How can you say that? You don't deserve to die."

"Oh no? What purpose do I have left? My parents are dead. Hell, my whole family's dead. I have no friends left. there is nothing"

For the first time, Hermione's heart truly went out to him. He had been mean to them, sure. Downright cruel, even. Except... He had spared their lives instead of turning them in. That had to say something about him. She gently put her hand on top of his and said, "I can be your friend, Draco."

"Isn't it just a big late for that?" he said, and her face went red. He was so infuriating!

Then his face went back to serious right in front of her eyes.

"Why did you say you wanted me to take advantage of you, Hermione?"

"I…I don't know."

"Yes, you do," he said. "You said it, so you had to mean something about it."

"I am …I just want…"

"I'm sure," he said. "You're trying to make Weasley jealous, aren't you? Even after that scene, you just can't let go."

"You know something, Malfoy? You are a real pain in the ass."

"Oh, so we are going back to last names now, huh, Granger?"

Somehow, his saying that, like that, really hurt, more that she would have thought possible.

"You really are a user, aren't you? You are probably just trying to get me to fall for you, so you can throw it in Ron's face."

He was silent a moment. It seemed to be the only thing he was doing these days.

"That isn't me, Hermione," he said finally. "I think you are the one trying to get back at Weasley. You are smart, cute, and sweet - when you want to be. But I don't want to be used. If you want to kiss me, I want it to be because you want to me - Draco Malfoy. Not because you want Weasley to get jealous and try to duel me over you. I don't want you to tell me to take advantage of you just to be able to say I did. There may be some guys out there who do, but, contrary to popular belief, I'm not like that."

There was something about the way that he said it, but his words made her stomach flutter. Maybe it was because he had said she was cute - or maybe it was because he wanted to kiss her - and more. With that thought, her stomach literally flip-flopped. She remember his lips on hers, and the other places. How had he learned those things? He realised she didn't want to know.

She swallowed and looked him in the eye.

"I want you to kiss me," she said. "You, because I want you to - no one else."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said, for the first time realizing that she really did mean it.

Ever so slowly he brought his lips to hers, but she met his full force.

He began to repeat his moves from a moment ago, but more gently this time.

Her mind was telling her to resist, but her body was telling her to give in. if anyone had told her a year ago, hell, even a month ago, that she would be kissing Draco Malfoy - again! - and enjoying it! - she would have said they were absolutely mental.

"What else would you like?" he asked, startling her and causing her to jump.

Blushing furiously, she shook her head. "Nothing."

He arched an eyebrow questionably at her.

"Are you sure? Because you know, I could always…"

She shook her head, more determined this time. She couldn't let herself give in, she couldn't it was bad enough that she would kissed him - again! - and enjoyed it. If she allowed him to continue, who knew what might happen?

He pulled back once again and looked at her.

She hated that every time he looked at her, she nearly fell apart. Luckily she was a little better at hiding that fact.

Why couldn't Ron look at her like that? Why couldn't he make her feel like that?

She hated how her mine kept drifting back to Ron, over and over again, even though she knew in her heart that it was over between them. That was what confused her the most.

Draco continue to started at her so intently that she felt he could see her soul. And in fact, he probably could.

Then suddenly, a question struck her mind and she wanted to ask so bad, but felt awkward and embarrassed at even thinking it, much less wanting to ask it.

"What?" he asked, keying in to the fact that something was on her mind, something, and by the way she was acting he figured out what it was. He smiled to himself, thinking it was cute she wanted ask such a thing, and even cuter the way she blushed when confronted with it.

He decided to help her out just a bit with it, but that didn't mean much.

Not to mention that he was slightly curious about her answer, anyway.

"Are you a virgin, Hermione?" he whispered, casing her eyes to get wide and her jaw to drop.

"Why are you.. You can't ask me that!"

"Why not? He asked. "You wanted to ask me."

"So you can read my mind! That's why you…"

"Now, now, Granger," he said, tsking his tongue. "I can't read your mind. But I can deduce some information from it. There's a big difference."

"My ass," she hissed, her temper flaring up again.

His eyes immediately drifted to that area of her body and she was seething.

He held out his hands in an attempt to surrender.

"I'm sorry. But there is one thing that we need to get straight here. And that's the fact that you are going to have to control that hot little temper of yours."

"The first thing? Are you trying to tell me that there are more?"

He tapped his chin and looked at her. "There could be. I haven't really decided yet."

"You haven't decided? Since when do you get to decide everything?"

He feigned a hurt look.

"I never told you that you couldn't make any decisions."

She shook her head. "What decisions are you talking about?"

"It can be anything you want it to be about."

She stood up and stomped her way over to the door way. "I have had enough for one night. I am going to bed."

"Well, la-di-dah. Please don't allow me to disturb you."

She clenched her hands so hard that they turned white.

"You. Are. The. Most. Infuriating. Boy. I . Have. Ever. Met."

"That's nice to know," he said calmly, leaning back in his chair.

"Why?" her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Because it means you like me."

"Ugh!" she shouted, slamming the door.

Once she had left, he chuckled to himself. He hadn't felt this light hearted since… he couldn't remember, to be honest. Maybe he had never felt quite this light hearted.

It was a good feeling.

Hermione had never felt more awake in her life. He was evil, she decided. Maybe not in the same evil death eater way he had been before, but he was still evil.

What kind of game was he trying to play her for - and asking her if she was a virgin. How dare he try to turn her own question on her. At least she hadn't answered him, but then, he hadn't answered her either. What was that supposed to mean? And why had he asked her in the first place? He couldn't want to… then a thought struck her. Did he? Because, she was not sure that she didn't want to.

She didn't know why she felt so awkward about the whole situation, after all, she hadn't said anything - yet. Problem was, the only other time she had been asked that had been even weirder, and definitely hadn't had the best outcome, as she looked back on it. In fact, that was probably when their relationship had started to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, Draco was having some remembrances of his own .

"It looks nice that way."

"You didn't deserve to die."

Why did such small sentences seem to mean so much to him?

Why did it always seem that when he couldn't sleep, he ended up in the same place as the one person who had caused it in the first place? It almost seemed like it was planned, but who would have planned that?

After what seemed like hours, but was really only about forty five minutes, Hermione came back to the common room just like Draco had known that she would. She was starting to become very predictable, and he was beginning to enjoy it.

He tried playing off nonchalantly, and smiled at her.

"Back so soon?"

"It was... it was warm in there. I have trouble sleeping such warm conditions."

His eyes drifted to the blanket she had wrapped around her body, almost as though it held security for her.

"Warm, huh? Next time I get too hot, remind me to wrap in a blanket. Maybe it will help cool me off"

She finally had enough. She reached over and slapped him, and it was not until he grabbed his cheek that she realized what she had done. His eyes blazed fire and for moment, she was terrified.

He grabbed her arm and her entire body went rigid.

Had she crossed the line one time too many? She was afraid to find out. He pulled her next to him, so tight and close, she could feel his chest moving in and out as he breathed in and out.

He brought his lips to hers once again, and for the first time, she didn't even try to resist. He knew she wanted it as much as he did, and she knew he wanted it as much as she did.

She kissed him back with more passion than she had previously showed, causing him to deepen the kiss even more, if that were at all possible.


	10. Chapter 9

When Hermione entered the Great Hall the next evening, she was hit with the sudden realization that it was almost Christmas. With everything that had been going on, it had almost slipped her mind, which disturbed her, due to the fact that Christmas had always been her favorite time of the year.

It seemed that Hagrid had been very busy with bringing in the Christmas trees for the celebration, and must have been at it all day.

The Great Hall looked as though it had become a forest - there were so many trees lining the hall.

"Hiya, Hermione," Harry said, looking relieved to don't have to be studying as he slid down to make room for her.

" Hi, Harry," she said.

"Cheer up, Hermione," he said, "it's nearly could be better than that?."

"Due to circumstances, I don't know if my Christmas plans would be the same as they usually are."

"Why? Oh, you mean because we've always..."

"Finally! You're actually paying attention for once," she said, happy that she could talk to Harry with such ease. It was definitely a good feeling, compared to how she had been feeling lately.

"I guess I hadn't really thought about it that way," he said. "I mean, Ginny told me I could..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course you can, Harry! I'm not telling you that you can't. I was just saying that I -"

She stopped talking right there and her face lost all colour.

"Hermione... what's wrong - " Harry started, but didn't get to finish.

Slamming his books down on the table, Ron stared at the two of them. "So you're at it again, are you?" Turning all of his attention to Harry, he said, "Does my sister know? Or are you keeping her in the dark, too?"

Ginny appeared behind him at that moment and grabbed his arm. "Ron!" she hissed. "What has gotten into you lately?"

He shrugged her off as he kept talking.

Draco sat at the end of the Slytherin table and watched what was going on. Up until now, he hadn't actually seen any of this confrontation going on between them, unless you counted class the other day.

Seriously? he thought. I can't believe she's been putting up with that... thing... for as long as she has.

He shook his head, but for some reason was unable to take his eyes away.

Quietly, Harry said, "Ron, Ginny's right. What has gotten into you lately? You used to not ever be like this."

Ron stepped up so that he was face to face with Harry and their noses were practically touching.

"Oh no? Maybe it's because my brother's dead."

"My parents are dead, too, Ron, but I don't treat people like this."

"They were dead before you could know them. It's not the same thing."

Hermione had had enough.

"It's not Harry's fault about Fred. We all miss him, Ron. But you don't have to be like this."

"Oh? And what about you? Sending your parents off to Australia? What was that all about? Then getting them back? It's not like you had to loose anybody. Maybe you should have left them the way they were. Then you certainly wouldn't be in the predicament you are in now."

Draco didn't even realize that he'd stood up until he had walked halfway over to where they were standing..

Ron sneered at him when he had made his way over. "And what do you want, Malfoy?"

"You should apologize to her, Weasley," he said in a low voice.

Hermione, Ginny and Harry's heads all turned to stare.

Ron stepped so they were mere inches apart.

"Who do you think you are, Malfoy, to tell me what to do?"

"Apparently I'm a better person that you."

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said, that I must be a better person than you. Because I would treat a person I claimed to love better than you do."

"As if you would know, Malfoy," Ron said, spitting the words out. "After all, your parents are dead too, aren't they?"

Draco clenched his fists, but willed himself to stay calm.

"So they are... but that doesn't mean that you have to blame everyone else for your brothers death."

"Maybe I shouldn't blame the rest of them. Maybe it's just you that I should blame. After all, maybe you're the one who's responsible."

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "Stop it!"

"Why? It's true."

"No it isn't, and you know it."

"Oh, so I see how it is. Harry isn't enough for you, is he? You've been giving it to Malfoy here as well?"

Ginny's eyes got wide as she sucked in her breath. That was a low blow. Probably just about the lowest.

"Maybe it's you that should be dead, Malfoy. And Fred could still be alive."

Hermione picked up her things and stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of them standing around behind her.

Ginny stared at Ron in disgust.

"How could you say something like that? You may be my brother, but that doesn't mean I can't say that you aren't being a complete and total ass."

"Are you alright?," Draco asked, as he walked into the common room to find her still sitting there, as if she had been waiting for him.

"I'm fine," she said, as he sat down next to her, immediately putting her on edge. Would there ever be a time when they could talk completely freely without being on edge? When she had hated him, she was never at a loss for words to say to him, about him, around him. Now, her mind was always empty and had trouble being able to pull sentences together.

"He shouldn't have said it, you know. He's just being a pompous prat. He's got... Don't worry about him," Draco whispered, gently wiping the tears away from her face.

She was extremely surprised when he didn't say anything else, and without another word, stood up and made his way to his room and closed the door.

She sighed as she closed her eyes and laid her head on her arms.. Why couldn't she get him off her mind? She didn't know what was worse. The fact that she wanted him to leave her alone, or the fact that he had left her alone.

For reasons that she couldn't explain, the fact that he had simply gone to his room without speaking hurt her feelings.

As that thought crossed her mind, a piece of paper seemed to float out of nowhere and landed next to her. For a moment, she just stared at, confused as it what it was doing, and not to mention, where it had come from.

Finally, her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she picked it up, and slowly unfolded it.

_Hermione,_

_I figured that you were probably tired of me doing nothing but talking to you all of the time, as well as invading your privacy. I imagine as you read that last line that you showed a smirk, even though I'm sure you wouldn't ever admit it._

She caught herself doing that very thing, and immediately tried to stop. Did he have to be damn bloody observant?

_Potter and I talked about you the other day - but before you get angry, at least finish reading what I have to say._

She shook her head. He really did have her figured out. Too bad someone else couldn't be quite so perceptive.

_I asked him if you were alright, he said that he didn't know exactly what was going on with you, but that as much as he'd have loved to blame me in the past, he knew that it wasn't my fault. How bloody ironic is that, huh?_

Her feelings flickered back and forth between feeling betrayed that the two of them had talked about her - together - and having a sense of happiness that at least there were some people out there who still cared.

_Anyway, what I really wanted to say was, if you need someone, I can be here for you. I want to be there for you. If you need me, just let me know._

_D.M._

She slowly refolded the note and laid it beside her book. That was very strange, but somehow, comforting all at the same time. She stood up slowly and as she turned around, she glanced in the direction of Draco's room and saw that he had the door opened a crack, and was leaning against the door frame and was watching her.

She gave a small smile as she headed in the direction of her own room. But this time, she felt a little happier.

Hermione stared up at the ceiling and the only thing that she could think of was how everything seemed so unreal. How had she gone from hating, despising, absolutely loathing Draco Malfoy to - this? She'd kissed him, she'd wanted him - and enjoyed it.

Her mind was flittering in so many directions, that she figured at any moment it would completely take flight on it's own and do whatever it wanted anyway. How had all of this happened?

Then she remembered something that she had always heard when she was growing up, something that her grandmother had always talked about. She remembered the way that her grandmother always talked about her grandfather, but it was more of the way of how he had been, rather than he was. When she was very young, she hadn't quite realized what that meant, until she later found out that he had been placed in a Concentration Camp during the muggle World War 2. How her grandmother had always talked about how afterwards, he'd never quite been the same. It wasn't the most pleasant topic that they had ever talked about in her family, and it wasn't until she was older and really understood what it was that they meant It finally clicked in her mind, and when it did, she couldn't believe that she had been so stupid, not to realize it before.

*Flashback*

_"Grandma... why is Grandpa always so sad? At school, the other kid's Grandma's and Grandpa's came to visit for Grandparent's Day. But their Grandpa's seemed happy. Like you. I thought all Grandpa's would act like...Grandpa," six year old Hermione asked her Grandmother._

_"Hermione, your grandfather... he was always such a wonderful person, so easy going, never worried about anything. Then suddenly, one day it was all gone. He'd come home, found everyone in his family...gone. It's hard to explain it now, but maybe one day... maybe you'll understand the difference."_

_Several Years Later_

_Hermione remembered attending her grandfather's funeral, and it had confused her as to why her Grandmother hadn't seemed as sad as she would have figured she would have been. Noticing this, her grandmother pulled her aside and said, "Don't worry, Hermione. Your grandfather... he suffered so much in his life, he never truly forgave himself for not being there for his family, you know. He said later that he should have left then, but how could he? He didn't even know what had happened to them, and he was only fifteen. It didn't take long before they came back and took him away. After that, I'm not really sure what happened. He never liked to talk about it much. All I knew was that he had changed - it was like he was a completely different person from the young man I had once known. I know that now he's at peace, or at least I like to believe that he is, which is why you don't see me crying over him, but that in no way means that I don't miss him."_

*End of Flashback*

The same thing had been what happened to Draco. Maybe not directly, but hadn't he virtually been in his own concentration camp, within his own house? He had mentioned, she remembered, how seeing certain things happening right in front of you tended to change your perspective on life, but hadn't realized just what it was that he meant until just now.

*Flashback*

_"You weren't there, Hermione. You didn't see the way that he looked at me. At my parents. He wanted to kill us. All of us. We had failed him. My father and I both. How we lucked out then? He couldn't be bothered to kill us. It wasn't until the end that he finally decided that he would kill my father. How could they have ever looked up to someone like that? Someone who would snuff out their life in the blink of an eye?"_

_"He wanted you to..." she said, not being able to bring herself to say the words, but knew that he knew what it was that she meant._

_"Kill Dumbledore? Yeah, he did. Why? Because he knew that I wouldn't be able to do it, just like my father hadn't succeeded before. He wanted to punish by father my putting this on me. I couldn't let them down, could I? If I failed, we'd all be dead. If I succeeded, we'd probably all have been dead. Then I was hit with the moment and I couldn't. I literally couldn't. You have to mean it with a curse like that, you know. Like really mean it, with everything you have. I knew I couldn't. Even if... even if I'd have said it, it probably wouldn't have done much more than knock him out for a few moments."_

_She stared over at him and just watched him, in silence._

*End of Flashback*

She had never quite made the connection until that moment, that maybe there really was more to Draco Malfoy than met the eye. After all, she couldn't deny that he was right - that she hadn't been there and didn't really know what had happened. She also wouldn't have been able to believe that Draco really could have killed someone. Sure, he had been mean, and vile and cruel at times, but there was a big difference in that and being a murderer.

She also hadn't realized until that moment how much she herself had changed. Or any of them had changed for that matter - maybe it really was true that you can never go home again. But above anything, she knew exactly what needed to be done.


	11. Chapter 10

Draco sat down on the bed, and knew that it was late and that he should try to sleep, but he felt wide awake and knew that there was no point. He knew that Hermione and Weasley had been having trouble, but until that evening he hadn't realized quite how bad it had gotten. .

The ending of the war had done more than just rid the world of Voldemort. He knew that he wasn't the only one who had changed, after all, wasn't the evidence of that right there in front of him everyday? Not to mention that he knew that if it hadn't been for that, it probably would have taken Granger even longer to come around? And Potter... well, he didn't even want to go there. Even after all of this time, it was still hard for him to accept, to have really let it sink in, that it had been Harry Potter who had saved his life. And not because there was anything in it for him, but because he had simply wanted to do the right thing.

Then there was Weasley. As much as Draco hated to admit that he understood where he was coming from, he did. However, it still didn't excuse the way that he was treating her, or any of them. He would have liked nothing more than to slug him in the nose, but he knew that wasn't going to help the situation.

It was ironic, he thought, how much they seemed to have in common after all of this time, and how, if hadn't been so stupid and prejudiced and worried about what people thought, he might have actually have been able to have her as a friend. Sure, she said she could be his friend now, but that wouldn't change the past; right all of the wrongs that he had done.

Why had he done them, really? Was he really so worried about what his father would have said? The answer to that question came to him in an instant. Yes. That's why, even now, only when he was in the dark and truly by himself was he able to think about it.

Knowing that attempting sleep was useless, he stood up slowly, stretched and walked to the common room.

"Thank you for being there for me tonight," Hermione whispered, as though she were waiting for him. "I didn't really get a chance to tell you earlier."

"I... it's what I needed to do. It's what you deserve," he said, realizing at that moment that that was truly why he had done it. She definitely deserved more than what Weasley had been giving her, and it was a shame that it had taken him this long to see it for what it really was. "He was completely out of line, you know."

She hesitated for a moment, and sank back into the cushions on the sofa.

"Do you... do you ever wish you could go back in time and change things?" she asked. "Like, if you had the chance, the things that you would do differently?"

"I've given up on that thought, due to the fact that I can't, and even if I could, where would I start?"

"You've... you've really changed, Malfoy," she said, throwing in his last name just to get a rise out of him. It didn't have the same feeling as it once had, though.

There was an awkward silence in the air, and she realized that, as much as she had dreaded it in the past, she wanted nothing more at that moment than for Draco to take her in his arms and kiss her. Among other things. It was hard, dealing with that emotion, considering she had resisted so many times in the past.

She glanced at him, out of the corner of her eye and debated on whether or not she should try to make the move herself.

At the exact same moment, Draco was having the same feeling, except that it was in a different way. He thought about the times that he had kissed her before, and how it had been in a moment of passion, fiery tempers, or to prove a point. They had fought, he kissed her. She called him names, he kissed her. What would she do if he did it because he wanted to rather than just allowing it to happen? But before he could do anything, he realized that she had moved so that she was right next to him. He was unable to move for a moment, due to the shock that was choosing, of her own accord, to talk to him, to be next to him.

Without further ado, he met her lips with his, pulled her into his arms. At last she was able to let the feelings from earlier in the evening disappear and lost herself in Draco's arms and embrace.

She gazed at him and whispered, "I want you to make love to me."

He shook his head. "You... you want me to what?"

"You heard me," she whispered, staring into his eyes. "I want you to make love to me."

"What has gotten into you? You've never had that reaction before!" he said, half surprised, half happy at her reaction.

"All the talk about going back and changing things. Maybe I can't change the past, but I could definitely change the future."

At that moment, she didn't care what happened. All she knew at that moment was that there was no other place than she wanted to be than in Draco's arms. Which felt really weird, but at the same time, it felt so right. He picked her up in his arms and she asked quickly, "What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to shag you here on the common room floor," he said. "I am going to make love to you in my bed."

The thought terrified her and excited her all at the same time.

She wrapped her arms around his neck once again and held on tight. His room had never seemed so far away.

She wanted to, and was afraid of it all at the same time. She tried to shut off her brain, to make it simply shut up and think only about the way that he made her feel.

He laid her on the bed and stared down at her, taking in the sight of her, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in the windows.

She started up at him, noticing for the first time the way that the moonlight seemed to highlight his pale skin, which made him look quite handsome, attractive and to be honest, downright sexy.

She was surprised when he only silently joined her upon the bed, and gazed over at her, without trying to make a move. This once again confused her. Every time she thought she had finally figured him out, he went and did something completely different. It definitely seemed out of character for him, but at the same time, it seemed just like something that he would do.

As her eyes continued to adjust to the darkness of the room, she got a chance to really look around. The only time that she had ever been in here was the night when she had tried to apologize and hadn't really paid attention to what the room looked like. It was definitely different from the bright feelings and colours that Gryffindor house had, but it was nice, if you liked green and silver.

It had a more sophisticated feel about it that was pleasing to the eye.

She could feel his eyes on her, but she was not ready to look back just yet.

A shiver ran down her spine as he gently traced a finger down her arm.

"Relax," he whispered, gently brushing her hair away from her eyes. He brushed her forehead with his lips, causing her to gasp involuntarily, he definitely had a way with his lips, she thought, and gave a shiver.

Misreading her signals and assuming that she was cold, Draco muttered an incantation and the room became warmer almost instantly.

"When did you learn how to…" she asked in amazement.

"I'm not a complete idiot, Hermione," he said. "But do you really want to hear about the incantations that I know?"

If she had allowed her brain to have any input at all, it would have said, "Yes". But she hadn't given it permission to start thinking again.

He had a point; a very good one at that. He picked up where he had left off, starting at her forehead, and kissing down the side of her face.

"Kiss me," he whispered, and she immediately complied. Up until now, she had only kissed him when he had kissed her and she felt very awkward at trying to imitate what he was doing to her.

"Don't ," he whispered, making her immediately pull back, as though he had struck her. She couldn't believe that she would already messed up.

"No," he said gently. "You don't have to do what I do, just whatever you want to do. You don't even have to do anything at all."

She supposed that was supposed to make things easier, but it didn't. Experienced was definitely not a word to describe her knowledge.

She touched his hair, which seemed to be the only thing she really knew what to do.

She got a warm feeling in the bottom of her stomach and knew that he was good. Really good. She figured she would never blushed as much in her life as she had been blushing in the past week.

He grinned at her, and she realized, that when she was not busy hating him or he was not busy calling her names or trying to hex her, that it was not quite as arrogant as she had always thought.

"Does my hair really entice you that much?"

"Now who's changing the subject?" she murmured, lost into her thoughts. Well, her thoughts and what it was that he was doing to her.

"You never cease to amaze me, Hermione Granger," he said, pulling her close him and he could feel the small of her back arch against his hand.

She had never felt so awkward in her life, but at the same time, never felt so wanted. There was just something about Draco Malfoy that made her full of contradictions and she didn't know where to start to try to sort them out.

He slipped the first few buttons through the button holes until he was able to slip her nightshirt off, revealing her smooth, milky skin concealed by a lacy black bra.

He arched his eyebrows and glanced at her. "Is this what you usually wear when you go to sleep?"

She blushed, and it ended up covering her entire body. "N..no. I thought maybe..."

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I'm glad I get to be the one that gets to see it, though."

He was mesmerized by the way that her heart seemed to be pounding so hard that it caused her breasts to rise up and down, causing him him to shift uncomfortably as his own clothing was becoming increasingly tighter and tighter.

"You're beautiful," he whispered, "even if you may not think so."

He began to unbutton his own shirt and it too fell to the floor.

He leaned forward and began a trail of kisses down her neck, and allowed his lips to linger when he reached her collarbone.

"If you want me to stop," he said "I need to know now. I don't want... I don't want to hurt you. I don't want there to be any regrets."

"I won't regret it," she whispered, "I promise."

"Please," she whispered. He lifted his head only slightly enough to ask, "Please what?" he teased.

"Please... don't... stop."

"Oh, you have no idea," he said. "I have no intention of stopping. Not for a very long time."

It was that moment that she decided that Draco had been right. Things happened for a reason that they were supposed to. She also knew that nothing had ever felt so right, than to be here, exposing not only her body to him, but the part of her soul that she had yet to share.

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked deep into her eyes, finding himself falling victim to to her hazel, doe like eyes.

He knew that this was his chance to prove, not only to Hermione, but also to himself, that he had been telling the truth. He didn't want to hurt her. He had seen over these past few months how hurt she had been because of... he didn't even want to think his name. There was no way that he wanted to cause her that same pain.

He knew right then and there that he wanted to make love to her, and he wanted to make love to her like she had never been made love to before, though he had no idea, and certainly didn't want to know, what ways she had been made love to before. To be honest, he wanted everything to be new, and he knew it was strange for him to want to feel that way, because, if anyone were to ever find out about it, there was no telling what kind of rumors would start, but at the same time, he didn't really care. All he knew was that she deserved the best, and it seemed that she hadn't been getting that. He wanted to show her that not all guys were bad, and that some of them, he included, were capable of bringing a fantasy to life.

Hermione's brain was telling her one thing, while her body was telling her something else. Never had she hated the contradictions more than she did right now. Each was pulling her so strongly in different directions that she didn't know what to do. Was she... was she really here, right now, laying naked under the watchful eye of Draco Malfoy, of all people? All thoughts of that disappeared from her mind as Draco begin to make her feel as she had never before - wanted, and almost - loved.


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: This is technically the start of Part Two. So while all of the other chapters have pretty much happened right after the other, this one is going to skip ahead just a little. (I had thought about just putting it as a sequel, but I'm not sure yet if there is going to be enough for an entire other story, so for right now, there's going to be Part One, Part Two, and then maybe a Part Three, it all just depends). Hopefully it won't be too confusing as to where this picks up. Other than that, read, and enjoy!

* * *

"I haven't seen much of you lately, Hermione," Ginny said, finally catching up with Hermione later on that afternoon.

"I've been...busy," Hermione said distractedly, "you know, studying, things like that..."

"And you've never done those things before?" Ginny asked, in an accusatory tone. "It's practically the middle of the term! And I think I've had the chance to see you all of two, maybe three times."

"Well, it isn't just that. I have to set a good example you know," Hermione said her cheeks turning pink.

"You may be able to lie to some people, Hermione Granger, but I'm not one of them. I know that you've been hiding yourself in here to avoid Ron."

"I never... not once did I..."

"Denial is not very becoming on you. It's not like you can't say anything. To me, at least. Not to mention, that by hiding yourself in here, you aren't lacking for something to look at. I don't know if I'd say it about everyone but I'm not going to judge you. After all, I never thought he was ugly."

"We happen to have a very professional relationship. He is Head Boy, I'm Head Girl. There are certain things that we have to do to... keep up appearances."

"The last time I checked, that didn't require you not to eat. I haven't seen you at a mealtime, in... at least a week."

"I've... I've had a lot going on, I told you. I haven't been very hungry. And besides, I tend to take most of my meals in here."

"Well, if you aren't going to come to the food, I figured that the least that I could do would be to bring the food to you. After all, you don't go around being the sister of the infamous Weasley twins without learning a few tricks," she said, opening up her bag and pulling out some food.

"I've..." Hermione started, feeling her stomach rumble and realized that Ginny was right, and she couldn't remember the last time that she had eaten.

However, the moment that she opened it up, the smell wafted up to her nose, and suddenly, her stomach began to rumble again, though this time for a very different reason. Pushing Ginny aside, she rushed throughout the room and made it to the loo just in time.

"Merlin's beard, Hermione. No wonder you haven't been eating. If the smell of food has that effect on you."

"It's nothing. I think it's just a stomach bug. I've been meaning to go to Madame Pomfrey, but haven't had a chance."

She was interrupted by another wave of nausea.

"Hermione," Ginny started, a sense of realization dawning on her. "You're not... pregnant are you?"

"No," Hermione said, taking deep breaths. "To be pregnant, you have to have..." she trailed off, the thought crossing her mind as yet another wave of nausea hit, though for a different reason this time.

"Oh, my -" Ginny said. "You are! I can't believe you didn't tell me! And it's like - wow. I was definitely not expecting to hear this. And to think that you made us all think that you were really mad at him... I'm gonna be an aunt."

Hermione tried to glare at her, but it wasn't very easy to do, considering she had her head in the toilet every other second.

"Wait a minute..." Ginny said, as though she had a sudden thought come to her.

Hermione's head was starting to throb, and she didn't know if it was because of the stomachache or all of the questions that Ginny was asking. However, she tried to shake her head, ever so slightly, trying to get her point across.

"What are you trying to telling me?" she asked, following the shaking of Hermione's head. Answering her own question, she said, "It isn't Ron's, is it? Wow. That's really all I can say at the moment... just, wow."

"You and Draco...," she said after a moment. "I didn't mean to upset you or make you mad. I just didn't realize that you two were... that you had..." She seemed to finally have walked herself into a corner and couldn't figure out how to get herself out of it.

"Ginny, please. Now is not the time for any of this. And besides, how do you know all of this anyway?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You have been spending way too much time with my family. You sound just like them. I'm not an idiot."

"I didn't say that you were. I just meant, you really seem to know loads."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten my brothers? Somebody in the family has to know something, otherwise, we'd never survive."

Hermione, who's stomach had finally settled down, turned around to face Ginny.

"So now that I've finished emptying the contents of my stomach, I would like to at least say something in my own defense."

Ginny arched her eyebrows. "Unless you're going to deny everything that I have just said, there's no need for you to say anything at all."

Ignoring her, Hermione slowly eased her head into her arms. She hadn't given it much though, but something told her that Ginny was right. She knew she couldn't deny it, especially to herself.

What am I going to do? she thought. And then another thought struck her. How was she ever going to be able to tell Draco? And her parents?

She closed her eyes and sunk her head even deeper, if it was possible. Not to mention what the teachers were going to say. She'd lose her position as Head Girl for sure... she let out a groan.

"Hermione? Are you alright? You haven't said anything since... Hermione?" Ginny asked, her voice suddenly jumping to concerned.

She merely nodded, even though she knew that nothing was ever going to be alright again.

"At least, at least come out of the bathroom, Hermione. It's kind of creeping me out that you're in here, as well as I'm sure it's probably not good for you to stay in here."

Lifting her head, Hermione arched an eyebrow at her. "Please tell me that you're not turning into your mother, please. I mean... this is a lot that's going on. I don't think that I can take it all..." she trailed off, knowing that she wasn't making much sense.

"Ok, I promise. Just, go and lie down or something, please?"

Knowing that Ginny wouldn't leave her in peace until she obliged, Hermione stood up and walked into her room.

Awkwardly, Ginny just kind of stared, not knowing exactly what it was that she needed to do.

"I, um... I'll just..." and she stopped, walking out of the room, not really sure what she could do or say at a time like this.

She didn't even notice that Draco in the room until she had practically run into him.

"I, um, hi, Draco," she said awkward, trying to make her way to the door. He just stared at her, his eyes nearly boring holes into her as she made her way out of the room.

* * *

It wasn't until several hours later when Hermione finally opened her eyes that she realized she had fallen asleep. The last thing she remembered was Ginny and her talking and then... she squinched her eyes shut, and then opened them again, realizing that it was true. It hadn't been a dream after all.

She walked into the common room and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw him sitting there.

"What are you... why are you sitting there like that?"

His eyes were cold and dark, and for a moment, she was eerily reminded of the way that he had used to be.

"Didn't think it was anything important that you should have told me?" he asked, in a low, cold voice.

"I didn't mean to... are you talking about..."

"You know damn well what I'm talking about."

She hated, absolutely hated it when he talked to her like she was a child. Especially since she thought they had gotten past all of that.

"You didn't think it was just slightly relevant to tell me that you were pregnant... pregnant... and it was my baby?"

"How did you..." she trailed off, knowing it was useless to try and talk to him when he was this way.

"Does it really matter how I found out? No, it doesn't. But maybe, just maybe, if you're trying to keep something from someone, you'll be more careful to not say it where they can hear you!"

She opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it.

"What? Did you think that you could just keep it from me and then leave once school was over and pretended that it never happened? I thought you..." he trailed off, finally defeated.

She sat down, finally realizing what he was talking about and what conclusions that he must have come to.

He was still standing, towering over her, until she cleared her throat and said, "Sit." Maybe it was because she said it so calmly, or seemed unaffected by what he just said, but he complied.

"Draco... I never tried to keep anything from you. Why would you think... I'm not even going to ask that. But you have to believe that it wasn't my intention to keep anything from you."

He laughed scoffing. "I'm supposed to believe that?" His face suddenly went very serious once again. "If that's the truth, then why didn't you just simply tell me?"

"If you'd listen to me for a moment, maybe I'd tell you."

He looked apprehensively at her. "Go on, I'm listening."

She rolled her eyes and then closed them briefly and hook her head slightly. "Why must you always do this? Just when... just when I think that you've showed me that you've... you go and do something like this."

"Just tell me one thing," he said, in a voice so low that he might not have spoken at all.

She looked at him expectantly.

His eyes stared into hers. "Is it true?"

"Is it... what... you mean... me... you...?" she asked, stuttering through all of her words.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, I was asking you if there was really a Santa Claus." He paused a split second and said, practically spitting, "you should know better than that one." He stood up and started pacing around the room. "I was referring to that," he said, his gaze directed at her stomach. "Is it... he started, his voice softening, "is it really true? Are you... are we... having a baby?"

With her gaze toward the floor, she merely nodded. "Yes. I mean, I think so. I don't really..."

He tiled his head in a way that could only be described as confusion. "Then what was all that... what was it about?"

"You mean..." her mind drifting back, trying to think about exactly what it was that he could be referring to.

"For someone who is supposed to be the smarted witch of her time, I certainly seem to have to spell out things a lot."

"Maybe if you wouldn't be so accusatory toward me all of the time, I would be able to think and not have to always wonder what it is that you are thinking, I'd be able to keep my mind on other things."

"You still haven't answered my question, Hermione. It's a simple yes or no question. Are you or aren't you?"

She stood up so that they were eye level and put her hands on her hips. "If you're so smart, you should be able to answer that question yourself."

He reached forward and yanked her hand off of her hip, causing to stumble forward and almost fell into his arms. This time, however, it didn't have the same feel that it once had.

"I don't want to answer the question myself. I want you to tell me. Why is it so hard for you to answer? It's a yes or a no. Unless..." a though suddenly crossed his mind, and as much as he tried to dismiss it, he couldn't quite shake it.

"Is there something else that you need to say?" he asked, though this time the venom was gone and replaced by an uneven shaking of the voice that could almost be described as warbling.

She finally had a moment of brainstorming and realized what it was that he had been asking without actually asking it.

"I see what you're getting at. You're not trying to ask me if is it true, but you're trying to ask if it's yours. That's the most hurtful, evil thing that I think could have come out of your mouth."

She reached out and slapped him across the face. "I hate you. You think I hated you before? That's nothing compared to how I feel now. Back when you were an vile, loathsome cockroach I could have just transfigured you into a real one and squashed you! Now, I don't think that there is anything I could transfigure you into that would make you any worse than what you already are."

"You don't hate me, no matter how much that you try to say that you do, or want me to believe it. You know how I know? Because if you did hate me, you wouldn't be carrying on like this. If you hated me, you wouldn't like it when I did this."

He pulled his face toward his and kissed her deeply and quickly, and when he finally allowed her to pull away, she was gasping for breath.

"You're insufferable. I can't understand you, and there are times, like this one, when I don't know if I want to."

He walked away a few paces and then turned around slowly and looked at her. "You don't hate me the same way I know that you're telling the truth."

"If you believe me, then did you ask me... and why did you let me..."

"Because I wanted to hear you say it. Do you realize that you still haven't said it to me?"

He once again stepped in to face her and looked her straight in the eye. "Say it. Please. I want to hear the words coming out of your mouth."

She knew what he wanted and knew that he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. After all, wasn't that what had gotten her into this predicament in the first place?

She looked at him and smiled, a forced one, which was the best that she could do. "I'm...I think I'm pregnant, Draco. We're... I think we're going to have a baby."

He had known it was coming... after all, hadn't he been the one who had told her that he wanted to hear her say it? But there was just something about actually hearing the words coming out of her mouth that truly stunned him. He hadn't quite let the idea sink in until just now, and hearing it, it made him have the need to collapse onto the nearest sofa and stare at her.

"How can you... when can you..." he was practically grasping for words trying to make sense of the entire situation.

"You should know more about that than me, you know. How does it work in the Wizarding World?"

"Me? You're asking _me _something like that?"


	13. Chapter 12

He was going to be a father. A _father_. They were going to have a baby. Never in a million years would he have guessed this was possible. It seemed so unreal, but if there was anything he knew, he knew he would make sure that this baby had a different childhood than the one he himself had had. Maybe it was too late for him to right some of the wrongs that he had caused in the past, but that didn't mean that he had to allow the same thing to happen for future Malfoy generations.

"Draco?" Hermione whispered, sitting next to him.

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

He turned to look at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"What are you talking about/"

"Your face. It's all scrunched up, like you're really concentrating on something. I mean, I know what you're thinking about, but what about it are you thinking?"

He didn't say a word but gently reached over and brushed her stomach with his palm.

"I was thinking about how I don't want this baby to grow up like me."

"What are you talking about? You've grown into a..."

He stopped her before she could continue.

"That's the thing, Hermione. Maybe I've "grown into being a good person" as you were going to say, but I don't want this baby to do the same. I want him - or her, to start off being that way.

She signed and figured she would leave it at that because there was no sense trying to talk to him when his mind seemed to be so far away.

* * *

Once he knew that she was back in her room, whether asleep or not, he knew it was safe to give into to the thoughts and feelings that he had been thinking and feeling ever since they had found out.

He knew that there was one way that he could ensure that the baby was going to get a good start in life, and he knew that it was something he needed to do. Now. And there was only one person who could help him get that started.

He crept to the door and headed out into the hall. He made his way around the winding staircases and stopped once he reached the teachers quarters. Taking a deep breath, he knocked three times on the door.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a mere minute or two, the door creaked open.

"Malfoy? What in Merlin's name are you _doing _here at this time of night?"

"Professor, I need a favor. I hate to bother you like this, but I think that you're the only one who can help me right now."

Professor McGonagall was startled, after all, she had had very few positive run-ins with Draco Malfoy over the past few years, but there was something about the urgency in his voice that made her realize she wanted to listen to what it was that he had to say.

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy. Come in," she said, closing the door.

* * *

When Hermione woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find that Draco wasn't in the common room as he had been almost everyday. Thinking that he must have already gone to class, she made her way to Potions.

She took what had become her usual seat next to Harry.

"Granger?"

"Here," she said quickly. Ever since that scene earlier in the year, she always made sure to stay on guard, especially during roll, and most importantly during Potions.

"Ms. Granger?" she heard again. Not again, she thought.

She looked up at Professor Slughorn.

"Yes?"

"Don't look so worried, Ms. Granger. I merely wanted to question how Mr. Malfoy is."

She stared at him, completely lost.

"I just assumed that he must be feeling ill, since he isn't here. I thought that maybe..."

But she didn't hear anything else he had to say.

She hadn't even noticed that Draco wasn't in class.

Charms wasn't any better, as there was a repeated performance with Professor Flitwick concerning Draco's whereabouts.

* * *

"Hermione, I know something's wrong," Harry said, as they were walking out of the Great Hall after dinner that evening. "Don't you want to talk about it?"

Hermione simply shook her head and just stared sadly at him. What she wouldn't give for things to be as simple as they had once been.

"Hermione? Hermione?" Harry asked, more urgently the second time, when she suddenly crumpled to the ground.

She could hear him, but his voice sounded far away, before it drifted completely to black.

Gingerly, he nudged her shoulder, to no response.

He lifted her up and headed toward the infirmary where he met Ginny, most likely on her way to Quidditch practice, in the hallway who only stared at him.

"Hermione...what happened..." she asked in a panic, looking at Harry.

"She... she just fainted," he said. "I was talking to her and she just… crumpled to the ground. I need to get her to Madame Pomphrey's."

Wide-eyed, Ginny looked from Harry to Hermione and back again. "Yes, hurry," she said. "You go on and I'll meet you there."

"Where are you..." he called to her, but she was already at the end of the hallway.

He walked as fast as he dared holding Hermione, which wasn't very fast, considering she was dead weight in his arms. He had just arrived and

laid her on a bed when Ginny came inside the doorway with Draco behind her.

Why did she bring him? Harry wondered, but put it out of his mind as he stood next to Hermione, looking, watching, appearing almost, was it, sad?

Harry didn't have long to linger on that though, because Madame Pomphrey came running in at that moment, took one look at what was going on and closed a curtain around Hermione.

Ginny stepped to Harry's side, but Draco kept his distance, staring into space.

Harry couldn't help but think he was acting weird, even for Draco Malfoy. Why was he here? Why had Ginny gotten him? And most importantly, where had he been these past few days, and then just suddenly re-appear?

After what seemed like ages, but was really only about fifteen minutes, Madame Pomphrey open the curtain and motioned for Draco to walk over. She then closed it behind them again.

Once they were alone, Harry finally asked, "Why did you go and get him? Where has he been? And why did she call him in there?"

Ginny shook her head slightly, but didn't meet his gaze.

"That's between the two of them. I can't say saying."

"Can't, or won't?" Harry asked.

"Can't," Ginny said softly, her eyes never leaving the ground.

After a few moments, the curtain opened again, and Draco came out, and without saying a word, took a seat in a chair not far away and hung his head.

Fearing the worst, Harry jumped up and rushed over, only to silently be stopped by Draco.

"Don't, he whispered. "She needs her rest right now."

Harry relaxed. "So she's... so she's alright then."

Draco nodded. "They...they're both fine."

"They?" Harry asked, having no clue what he was talking about.

Draco glanced at Ginny. "He doesn't know? You haven't told him?"

"Couldn't," she muttered, feeling stupid. Didn't anyone understand the fact that she didn't feel it was her place to be spreading everyone's business around?

Harry's eyes were darting back and forth between the two of them. "Would someone please tell me what is going on here?"

Draco and Ginny shared a look. Ginny nudged her head toward him, as if to say, _You do it._

Shooting Ginny a dirty look,, Draco looked at Harry and said, "I, um, I... we're... having a baby."

She looked into Harry's confused face, and said, rolling her eyes, "He means Hermione's pregnant, Harry."

None of them had noticed that Ron had limped in, looking a little worse for the ware, as he usually did after a particularly bad Quidditch practice and upon hearing those words, he rushed over.

That was when all hell broke loose.

"Hermione's pregnant?" he squeaked out, his face turning as red as his hair. "She's pregnant?"

Ginny glanced at both Harry and Draco, and then at Ron. Apparently, she was the only one who realized what Ron was thinking.

Changing the subject, she motioned for all three of them to follow her into the hall.

Once they had complied, she started in on them. "In there," she motioned to the infirmary, "is not the place to discuss this."

"Discuss what?" they asked in unison.

"I know, Ginny," Ron said, "but I need to get back in there."

Draco had had enough.

""Why do you need to be in there? You're the one whose been making her cry all year."

Ron glared at Draco. "Who asked you, Malfoy? Why don't you just mind your own damn business?"

Draco could feel his temper flaring.

"Mind my business? My business? You're the one who needs to mind his own bloody business."

"What the hell are you getting at, Malfoy?"

Ginny stifled a groan, because she knew what was coming next.

"I...what I'm getting at, as you put it, is the fact that I don't want you in there... risking the life of my baby. Again!"

Ron's face went white while he let the words sink in.

"Your... _your _baby?" he said slowly, and then suddenly lunged at Draco, as realization set in.

"You son of a bitch!"

He swung a punch that caught Draco in the jaw.

"How dare you put your bloody hands on her...," he seethed, forgetting that he himself had insinuated that before.

Draco held his jaw, but was otherwise undaunted.

"Maybe, just maybe, if you'd have have treated her better, she wouldn't have wanted me to."

Ron lunged again, but Draco caught his fist in his this time, and returned a punch.

"Harry! Do something!" Ginny hissed, afraid of what would happen if this continued.

Harry stepped between them, and was instantly hit from both sides.

"That's it," Ginny muttered, grabbing her want, she cried, "_Petrificus Totalus_!"

Instantly, Ron and Draco both became immobilized and dropped to the floor, though you could still see them seething, their eyes roaming frantically.

"Why did you tell me to do something if you were going to do that?" Harry asked, still rubbing both jaws. He was used to getting hurt by now, but this was ridiculous.

She shrugged. "I'd figured that you were going to do something like that."

That moment, Neville came walking down the hall and Ginny beckoned him over.

"What... what happened here?" he asked, staring at Ron and Draco both

laying in the floor.

"Never mind that now," Ginny said. "We just need to get them somewhere - fast - before someone starts asking questions."

"I'll explain later," she said, when he gave her a puzzled look.

* * *

"Now will someone please tell me what is going on?" Neville asked, as between the three of them they had gotten both Ron and Draco inside the Room of Requirement, which had, of course, supplied them with a place they could lay them both.

Ginny glanced at Harry, who shrugged, while she tried to avoid looking at Ron and Draco's facing, knowing that she wouldn't like what it was that she would see.

"Well, Neville," Ginny said slowly, "it seems that my dear brother here," she pointing, and the sarcasm was practically dripping from her voice, "and Draco over there," she pointed to him, where his eyes were very visible to keep scanning frantically, "decided to get themselves into a little fight. Rather than waiting for it to turn into something worse, I decided to take matters into my own hands."

"Yeah, but not fast enough," Harry muttered, rubbing his still aching jaw.

"She hit you?" Neville asked him, puzzled.

"No, not her. Them," he pointed at Ron and Draco, with a scowl.

"They both hit you? Wow... you must have really done something then."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything, other than what she told me to. I tried to stop them from hitting each other and they hit me."

Neville shook his head. "Maybe it's a good thing I haven't seen that much of any of you this year. You've all gone and gotten weird on me."

He walked toward the door, still glancing at them and shaking his head. Once he'd walked out the door, Ginny looked at Harry.

"Before you say anything, no, I wasn't going to tell him. I don't really think Hermione would appreciate it if we started blabbing her life out for everyone to gossip about. Don't you think she already has enough to deal with? It's bad enough that it came out the way that it did when she isn't even conscious enough to say anything herself. And I know that Neville won't say anything, after all, even if he thinks we've gone weird on him, he's still our friend."

* * *

Hermione blinked a few times as she started to come to, at first not realizing where she was. Then as the room came into focus, she noticed that she was in the infirmary, but not really sure why she was there. Or, for that matter, why or how Draco was sitting next to her, his head supported in his hands, as though he had fallen asleep in that awkward position.

"Draco?" she whispered.

He stirred slightly, but didn't open his eyes.

"Draco?" she said a bit louder this time.

He blinked his eyes a few times and looked over at her.

"Where were you? When did you get back?"

"Shh," he told her. "Don't worry about it. I'm back. That's all that matters."


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: Just for the record, this was an EXTREMELY hard chapter to write. It's like, I had so much trouble going from what happened at the end of the last chapter to where the next chapter is going to start. But I think I finally succeeded in making a fairly decent chapter. So that is my warning if you think it's a little strange. And yes, there are some ooc moments, as well as a huge passage of time, and some possible indiscrepencies in time, but those will be explained later. With all that said, here it is.

Update: This chapter has been edited slightly, not by much, but just to fill in a few gaps.

* * *

"Dammit!" Ron yelled, smashing his hand into the nearest wall. The pain ricocheted through his hand, up his arm and throughout his entire body, but he didn't stop. He felt the bones in his fingers break, and it was only then that he finally stopped slamming it into the wall.

"Ron?" a soft voice asked as it came up around the corner. "Are you alright?"

He turned to look at the blonde-haired girl who was looking at him with concern.

"What does it look like, Daphne?" he said with a sigh and a roll of the eyes.

She bit her lip and stared back at him, undaunted. "To be honest, it looks like you're someone that could use a friend."

Draco sat on the sofa, staring at the wall, thinking. Nothing more, nothing less, just thinking. It was something that he had never really done much in the past, but realized that it was something he had definitely been doing lately.

Even after everything had sunk in, he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that everything hadn't been a bad dream, and that he _was _going to be a father. He shook his head. He could only imagine what his own father would say if he were here to know about it. Then again, if Lucius was still alive, more than likely the events of the past year would never have happened and these thoughts would be pointless.

Draco was so lost in these thoughts that he didn't even hear the door open, or it close shortly after, as well. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he got the feeling that someone was looking at him that he even noticed that Harry was in there, staring at him.

"Potter… what are you doing here?" he asked, automatically jumping to his feet and immediately bracing himself for the blow he assumed would be coming.

"Malfoy," Harry said, nodding his head slightly in greeting.

Draco was stunned when that seemed to be it, knowing for sure that Harry would have wanted to hit him, or hex him, or something. It just seemed weird that he didn't.

"Do you want to… sit down or something?" he said, feeling stupid. It was just another one of those things that made everything that was happening feeling even more strange.

Harry sat down in the armchair that was across from the sofa where Draco re-seated himself.

After an awkward moment of silence, Draco said, "Hermione's alredy in her room, asleep I assume."

"She isn't the one that I came to see. You are."

"Me?"

Harry nodded, and they went back to silence for a moment. Then finally, he said, "She's my best friend, you know."

Staring at his own hands, Draco merely nodded. This was most certainly not a conversation that he had ever expected to have - with Harry Potter of all people.

"You probably expected me to hit you. She's like a sister to me."

Again, all Draco did was nod.

"Part of me wants to. Like, in some ways, I really want to do nothing more than punch you. But I can't. You know? Whether we like it or not, you're part of her life now. A huge part. And the worst part of all? The idea doesn't bother me the way that it once would have."

Feeling more comfortable with the situation at hand, Harry leaned back in the chair and relaxed.

"Things have definitely taken a different turn than I ever would have expected them to, you know?"

Once again, Draco just nodded his head, not really sure why he was unable to say anything.

"You asked me once why I saved your life," Harry said, and then stopped, even though it e as though he had more that he wanted to say.

Finally, Draco seemed to find his voice.

"I just never really understood it. I mean, that was your chance right there to see me get what I deserved."

Looking at his hands, Harry said, "I was there that night in the Astronomy tower, you know."

Draco's face went white, if that were even possible.

"You were there? So that means that you…"

Harry nodded. "I saw what happened. It was that moment right there that I saw who you really were. You never would have done it. I know that."

They were quiet again for a minute, the only sound in the room being that of the clock ticking in the background.

"You saved my life, too, you know. And Hermione's, and even Ron's."

They both ignored that ill-placed mention of Ron, but Harry continued.

"You had your chance to turn me in. To be rid of me once and for all. But you didn't. That's my question for you. Why didn't you?"

"I didn't want you to die."

It came out so quickly, that Draco didn't even seem to realize that he had said it.

"I wished you ill plenty of times. But when it came right down to it, I never actually wanted you to… _die. _Besides, I knew the truth by that time, and knew that you were our only hope. I wasn't the only one. My parents knew it too, even if they never would have admitted it."

"Your mother did."

"She did what?"

"She knew. She risked her life for us."

Draco looked at him in confusion. "Come again?"

"Your mother. She told Voldemort I was dead. She wanted to know if you were still in the castle and she asked me, and I told her yes. So she told him I was dead so that she could come look for you. Regardless of why she did it, she also had a chance to turn me in, and didn't."

"I never knew that."

"Well, I guess we're more alike than we ever thought. And Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're more like her, you know. Your mother? You're definitely more like your mother than your father."

Draco smiled. It felt like quite a compliment to him.

"I never would have expected, not in a million years, any of this to ever happen," Harry said, suddenly changing the subject.

"You act like I did," Draco snorted. "You really think that given a choice, I would have planned something like this?" But then his voice softened.

"I don't think that I could say this to anyone else, Potter, but you might be the one person that just might understand."

Harry arched an eyebrow, curious as to what Draco was going to say.

"It might seem absolutely mental that I'm about to say it, because even I think so. But, with everything considered, I'm not sorry."

"About what?'

"Any of it. I mean, nothing really happened the way that I expected, I mean, we're eighteen years old, for Merlin's sake. And we're having a baby. And we never got along up until a few months ago."

He shook his head as though he was trying to argue with himself.

"I can't really explain what it is but I feel like a different person now. It's like, I've been given a chance to help fix mistakes from the past."

He took in a deep breath before he continued.

"Hermione's a beautiful person, you know. Inside and out. I only wish I would have been able to overlook everything in the past and really noticed before, you know?"

The clock chimed the hour and Harry realized he had been there much longer than he had originally planned, and so he stood up and stretched.

Silently, he held out his hand, which Draco hesitantly took. In some ways, it reminded him of their first meeting at Hogwarts, all those years ago.

"I stand by what I said earlier, you know. But, if you hurt her, I'm the one you'll have to answer to."

Draco met Harry's eyes. "You won't have to."

"I can't believe that we're even having this conversation, the two of us, but what I do believe is that you won't."

Draco looked at him in disbelief. "You what?" he said, curiously, knowing that he'd always been able to hide his feelings from everyone, including himself.

"Because I can see it," Harry said slowly.

"See what?"

"That you've fallen in love with her."

Their eyes met for a moment before Draco said, "I have, haven't I?"

Ron pulled the drapes around his bed and closed his eyes, rubbing his sore hand. He sighed as he rolled over onto his side. He honestly didn't know what it was that had gotten into him lately. He didn't even know who he had become. Due to jealousy and a hot temper, he had lost himself his best friend, his girlfriend, alienated his sister, and as much as he hated to admit it, his self-respect. He couldn't believe that he had just resorted himself to shagging Daphne Greengrass, in a deserted corridor of all places! - and after it was all over, just leaving her there, staring sadly at him while he walked away.

He sat up quickly, knowing there was only one thing he could do. Before anyone else headed up to the room for the night, he had all of his bags packed and took a page from Hermione's book - wincing as he remembered where he had learned it from - and shrunk everything so that it would fit inside his backpack. He then re-closed the drapes around his bed, took one last look around the room and walked out the door, knowing that he would never be coming back here.

"Hermione?" Draco asked Hermione the next morning.

"Hmm?" she asked, not moving her eyes from her book.

"Can I ask you a question? Like a serious question?"

There was something about the urgency in his voice that made her stare up at him.

"What is it like to have friends?"

"Come again?" she said, sure she hadn't heard him correctly.

"Friends. What's it like to have friends – people who care about you. Who would go to the ends of the earth for you?"

Not knowing how to answer, she tried to sidestep it.

"You've had friends, Draco. Surely that's how they..."

He shook his head, cutting her off.

"Any one of them would have run at the first sign of danger. You honestly expect any one of those that you think were my friends would have been willing to give their life for me? I mean real friends. The way Potter and Weas- Ginny are to you. Even Longbottom and Lovegood. I've never had friends who cared that much about me."

He sounded so sad, so lost, that Hermione couldn't help but let her heart go out to him.

Then without another word, he simply walked out of the room toward class, leaving Hermione starting in confusion after him.

The day was filled with N.E.W.T exams, and it seemed as if no one had even realized that Ron was gone. Or then again, maybe everyone was so busy that they just overlooked the fact that he wasn't there.

After Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, Harry came up to Hermione.

"Our last exam - EVER. Hardly seems possible, doesn't it? It seems as if it were only yesterday that we met on the Hogwarts train. It's like, most of our life has been planned out for us, and now, everything is changing. I mean, we're not coming back next year, we're about to head out on our own, you're going to have a _baby, _which I will admit, I still have trouble realizing that you know, Draco Malfoy and I are _friends, _do you have any idea what you're doing after all of this is over?"

Hermione was only half listening, as she absently rubbed her lower back. Again. She'd lost track of how many times she had done that in the past few hours.

It wasn't until Harry realized she hadn't answered that he looked over at her.

"Hermione? Are you alright?" he asked, noticing her expression.

She didn't answer for a moment, then suddenly, with a look of horror, she said, "Harry, I think my water just broke."

* * *

A/N: So there you go. Now you see what I mean about time. In theory, if she first got pregnant right before Christmas, she wouldn't be due to around September. But somehow I found it more fitting to have her go into labor before they leave school. So I may go back and change it to happening earlier, or it's possible that in the Wizarding World that babies don't take as long. But anyway, that is my reasoning for having it happen that way. Hope you enjoyed it!


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: Now this was a chapter that I was happy with. To be honest, I had this chapter written before the last few chapters, it was just getting to this point that was hard. This was originally several chapters, and I combined it into one big chapter.

* * *

"I still can't believe that any of this is real," Draco said to Harry as they paced back and forth in the waiting room.

"What I can't believe is real is the fact that you and I are sitting here - _together - _waiting for this."

"Do you realize that this is about the tenth time you've mentioned that to me?"

"Well, it's true."

"I never denied it. But that doesn't mean that I need to be reminded constantly of the fact. Or it might just make me go back to hating you."

Before Harry could answer, however, a Healer came into the room and motioned for them to follow her.

All the colour drained out of Draco's face as he was for sure that something was wrong, that something had happened. After all, why else would they want both of them to come back there?

"Go on," Harry hissed, practically pushing Draco along the way.

They made it into the room that the Healer had disappeared into and Harry stopped. "This is all yours," he said, walking back to the waiting room.

Draco stepped into the room and then suddenly he heard the crying of a baby and looked up in shock. Was that... did it mean...?

He looked over at Hermione, who though she seemed drained and overly exhausted, which wasn't a surprise considering what she had just gone through, smiled at him and nodded. He felt completely out of the loop, not sure what he needed to do. he had always prided himself with knowing exactly what to do in any situation, but this was one he had never even thought he'd be in.

He glanced around and felt stupid and sort pointed at the baby and then at himself. "Can I...May I?" he asked flustered. The Healer smiled at him and handed him the blanket wrapped baby.

Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the baby and cradled him in his arms.

He sat back in the chair, the baby cradled in his arms and realized there was no place that he would rather be. He had imagined what this day would be like of course, but that was nothing compared to the reality of it.

Suddenly, the tiny infant in his arms began to cry, and gently he placed his index finger in his mouth and the tiny baby quieted down as he began to suck on his finger.

"I'm your daddy," he whispered, the words sounding strange in his mouth. "And I'm going to do right by you, I promise. I don't want you to turn out like me." He closed his eyes and pressed his face gently next to the baby's. That was when he realized that he was asleep.

"Hermione..." he started, until he realized that she, too, was asleep. The Healer had already left, as though to give them privacy, and he wasn't sure what to do. Did he lay the baby in the bassinet by her bed and sneak out for the night, or did he stay?

It only took about two seconds for him to gaze at the beautiful baby in his arms to know that he wasn't going to go anywhere. The tiny baby began stirring in his arms ever so slightly, and gently began to rock him back and forth.

"_Hush, little baby, please don't cry, _

_Listen to this song and I'll tell you why…"_

The tiny baby once again sighed in his sleep and rolled over to go back to sleep. Draco adjusted himself in his chair and couldn't help but gaze at the baby.

"_You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town."_

No matter how many times that he did this, he still couldn't believe that this was his. He wondered how long it took for it to sink in that a baby belonged to you. Did it happen automatically, or did it take awhile? Regardless of which, there was one thing that he knew for certain, and that was the fact that he loved this baby. More than ever would have thought possible for him to love another human being.

Cradling the baby against his chest, it wasn't very long before he himself was asleep as well.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, two days later when she and baby Scorpius, as she and Draco had decided to name the baby, had been released from St. Mungo's.

"You'll find out as soon as we get there," he said with a smile.

They had walked for awhile, and then suddenly, Draco made her stop and close her eyes.

"What are you doing? I'm going to end up tripping and dropping the baby," she protested.

"No, you won't," he said. He took the baby out of her arms and held him.

"Have I ever told you how strange you were?" she said to him, but complying with his wishes none the less.

"You remind me at least once a day he said," taking her hand in his.

"Draco, what on Earth..."

"Shh," he whispered. "Just come with me."

She heard a door creak open, and followed him until he stopped her.

He lead her down the hallway, and then he finally told her that she could open her eyes.

She gasped in amazement when she opened them.

"Where are we?" she asked, bewildered. She had been under the impression that they were going to Malfoy Manor, but the place that she was looking at was anything but.

He smiled at her. "You're looking at your new home."

"My… what?" she said. "This isn't…"

He kept grinning. "I know. Somehow, I couldn't see you in that old dreary, mausoleum of a place, and decided that it was time I got it out of the family. I thought this was much more practical."

"You bought me a _house?_" she said, not believing what she was hearing.

He didn't answer, but rather, opened the facing door and led her inside.

"It's beautiful," she exclaimed, staring in wonder at the beautiful nursery he had created.

"You...you did all of this yourself?" Hermione asked in disbelief as she stared around the room. The walls had been painted a soft shade of green, while a silver cot was set up on the left side of the room and facing it was a white bassinet on the right.

He gently laid the baby in the crib and covered him with a blanket.

Above the crib was a mobile that had characters that were shaped like tiny Quidditch players and played a soft, soothing tune when it was turning.

He smiled. "Well, I did have a little help from my friend," he said, gesturing toward his wand.

"I mean... you planned it all?"

"I've been thinking about it for awhile," he said. "Pretty much every detail had been figured out. Whether it was a boy or a girl, it was going to look the same. I mean... I'm not too good with girls, you know."

She gave a wry grin. Cocking her head towards the baby, she said, "I can't imagine that. Apparently you didn't have too much trouble, you know."

"What can I say? Malfoys' have good genes."

"Are you talking about you, or the baby? Because maybe it's the Granger genes that are standing out. Did you ever think about that?"

"Hey now, I did something nice for you and this is how you're planning on re-paying me?"

She just shook her head. "There are times when I just can't believe you, Draco Malfoy. You never fail to surprise me."

Suddenly, he looked very serious. "Do you... do you ever regret it, Hermione? I mean, being with me, us having a baby at our age, any of that?"

"No. I...it's never even crossed my mind," she said, suddenly realizing that it was true. Sure, things had definitely been difficult, and it wasn't necessarily the choice she would have originally chosen, but she realized, if given the chance, she didn't she would change anything.

He tilted his head accusingly at her. "Now I know you're lying to me."

She narrowed her eyes in confusion at him. "I've never lied to you, Draco Malfoy. Not once. I never lied to you when I thought you were a vile, loathsome cockroach. I never lied to you when I thought I admitted that you'd become a changed person. And I'm not lying to you now."

He looked at her deeply, and she was once again reminded of how she had started falling for him in the first place.

He licked his lips nervously and then before he could stop himself, he then quickly dropped to one knee and held out his right hand which held a small black box in the middle of it., and opened it to reveal a small two tone silver and golden ring with a red heart and a green heart shaped stone in the middle.

"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

She let out a gasp and dropped to her knees in front of him. She found she couldn't say anything, and could only stare at what he was holding in front of her.

"I..." she stuttered, unable to say anything else.

"Let me ask you again," he whispered, looking deep into her eyes. "Will you become my wife, and allow the three of us to become a family? A real family?"

"I...I don't know what to say," she said, completely left without words.

"Say yes," he pleaded, burning a hole into her soul with his eyes.

She glanced at him, and at the ring and back again.

"I got it this way to represent the both of us," he said, thinking that maybe she didn't like the ring and the colours that it had. "But if you'd rather, I could always get a more traditional looking ring.."

She shook her head. "No...no. It's perfect the way that it is. Gingerly, she took it out of the box and slipped it onto her finger.

It took him only a moment to understand what she was trying to say.

"Does this mean that..."

"It does. I want to, Draco. I really do. But at the same time I'm afraid... I know it sounds really stupid, but I..."

"Shh, love. You don't have to explain. But if you want, you know that I'll listen."

"I know you will. I just... things have happened so quickly. What if... what if we don't..."

"Don't think about it like , Hermione. I know there are times when you still don't trust me. It's fine, I don't blame you. Hell, if I were in your place, I probably couldn't trust me either."

"It has nothing to do with trust, Draco. You had my trust from the moment that we... in fact, even after everything, you never really lost it."

He smiled, glancing at the ring shining on her finger. "Does that mean that you accept?"

It took her only a moment to be able to give him an answer. "I will. After all, we've made it this far. I think we can really make it all of the way."

* * *

Hermione had trouble sleeping again that night - had she ever truly had a good, solid night's sleep since all of this began? She couldn't remember a single night in the past two years that she hadn't had a least a small bit of trouble going to sleep. She'd figured that she could blame it on the baby - that is, if the baby made any noise. He was the quietest baby that she had ever known, not that she had ever known that many, but she had always heard that they were supposed to be loud and noisy and never wanted to sleep. Not this baby. Every time she went to check on him, he would be asleep. At first, it had absolutely terrified her because she was afraid that something was wrong with him.

She laid her head against the pillow and tried to make herself go to sleep, to no avail. How had her life turned out like this? She had always dreamed about how her life would turn out after she had finished school, and so far it seemed that nothing was going to plan.

She thought back to what had started everything in the first place, and snorted ironically at how it had been because of her parents, and now, it seemed that things was always going back to her parents. How they had reacted when she had told them the news, for example.

*Flashback*

"_Have you decided what you're going to do yet?" Elizabeth Granger asked Hermione over the Christmas Holidays_.

_Hermione had dreaded this moment from the minute that she had stepped off the Hogwarts train. She had known that she was going to have to say something, but had kept putting off thinking about it. she decided that the easiest way to get it out would be just to say it, so she decided to just blurt it out._

"_I'm not going to go to University, Mum. I've decided that..."_

_But Mrs. Granger didn't seem to want to listen. The moment that she had heard that, she was practically livid._

"_I'm surprised at you, Hermione Jean. We have done nothing but be supportive of you over the years and this is how you re-pay us?"_

"_That's not why, Mum. It has nothing to do with that. It's because I'm..."_

"_You're what? Is that wizard boy, what's his name, the one that you've been cavorting with, has he been planting ideas in your head?"_

"_I'm pregnant, Mum!" she blurted out, and immediately wished she could take it back._

"_You're what?" screeched Mrs. Granger._

_Hermione tried, without success, not to lose her patience. "You heard what I said, Mum. I didn't want to have to say it this way, but that's in the past now."_

*End of Flashback*

She had known that they would have to find out eventually, but she really wished that she would have had a better way to tell them. She had never seen her parents so disappointed in their lives. It had also meant that once school was over, she wouldn't be returning home. Even though her parents had never said she couldn't come back, she felt that that was out of the question. Especially since everything was so awkward and confusing.

Knowing that trying to sleep now was going to be next to impossible, she climbed out of bed and pulled on a robe and made her way to the living room. Even though Draco had done re-modelling to the place so that it hardly resembled the mansion that it had once been, it still seemed creepy at night.

It seemed almost like deja vu when she realized that Draco was already there.

"Seems like old times," he said, when he noticed her standing in the doorway.

She grinned and raised her eyebrows in an agreement sort of way. She sat down next to him as he moved over to give her room.

"Are you... are you alright?" he asked, feeling as though he should say something, but not really sure what exactly he should say.

She nodded slowly. "Surprisingly, yes. I just... it all has to sink in, you know? I mean, I'm a _Mum _now, it's a pretty strange feeling. Being a mother. Not to mention with not having my own Mum here," she said, before she realized who she was talking to. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, averting her eyes. "I didn't mean..."

He covered her hand with his. "It's alright. You don't have to worry about offending me. Really. You can say what you want, well, unless you call me a vile, loathsome cockroach or a ferret."

She laughed, softly.

"You aren't the only one who feels a bit strange. I mean, I'm a Dad. A Father. At least you were able to get used to the idea. You carried the baby. I..."

"Believe me, that doesn't really make it any easier," she said.

Looking serious again, he said, "Earlier, I didn't mean to scare you, or put you on the spot. If you need time to think about it, I understand."

She looked accusingly at him. "Are you trying to tell me that you've changed your mind?"

"Not at all. I've... I don't think I've ever wanted anything more in my life."

She shook her head and sighed. "I have to admit. There are still times that I have trouble admitting that you're Draco Malfoy... the same Draco Malfoy that I've known since I was eleven. Back then, you were just a stuck-up, spoiled brat who thought he knew everything. Then you became a know-it-all 'I'll tell Daddy on you' jackass. Then you..." she trailed off, not knowing where to start.

He leaned in. "And what am I now?"

"You've been kind, considerate, and a friend. To be honest, I'm not sure what is the strangest part."

He leaned over to put his arm around her. "You've brought a lot of changes in me, Hermione. I hope you know that. I've become part of who I am now because of you."

"You can stop, please. You've actually made me want to vomit with that."

"Seriously, though. You helped believe in me. Do you have any ideas how many times I didn't want to do it anymore? That I figured it would be easier to just forget about it?"

"How so? You had already..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But do you honestly think that I would have come this far if it hadn't been for you helping me?"

"I didn't do much. To be honest, there were times when I tried to come up with ways to hex you out of our common room and so that you would leave forever."

"I'm glad you changed your mind," he said.

"Me too," she whispered, looking up at him.

"You ready to try and sleep again?" he asked, after a lengthy silence.

She stood up slowly.

He held out his hand to her. "I mean, with me. And my room."

"Draco, I've already told you, I can't... I mean.."

"Shh," he said, placing his finger against her lips. "I didn't mean for that. I was actually referring to sleep. No matter what you might think, or what anyone might think, I'm not just in it for sex."

It had seemed to be the best solution, after all, for the two of them to have separate rooms, since they still weren't quite sure exactly where their relationship was heading. However, it seemed a bit silly to have separate rooms on opposite sides of the manor, when they could just as easily share one.

"I just have one question," she said, before he stood up.

"What's that?"

"Why did you... when you first left... why did you leave? Where did you go?"

He just smiled at her. "I thought you would have figured that out by now. That was when I got all of this," he gestured at everything around them, "started."

"_That _was when you did it? Why? How?"

"You are just full of questions, aren't you? How about you worry a little less of why and how, and just be pleased?" he teased.

She watched in amazement as he pulled back the covers for her when they reached his room.

It felt very strange, not to mention awkward, consciously and casually crawling into bed with him. In fact, this was the first time since _it _had happened.

He crawled in beside her, yet giving her space all at the same time. That wasn't what she wanted however, and she rolled onto her side and curled herself into the space between his arm and the side of his body, and he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

And there, in the comfort of his arms, Hermione finally fell asleep.

* * *

A/N: So there goes probably the longest chapter I'll write. And I know, Hermione shouldn't be walking all that way two days after she had a baby. But in the Wizarding World, I'm sure she can. Same goes with the timing of the baby. In theory, she should have had him in September, but if she went into labor and had him theoretically before school was over, the not having a place to go wouldn't be a problem, whereas it couldn't be a surprise if she waited until September. So I'm playing on hopes that maybe babies don't take as long to have in the Wizard World. Regardless if you buy that or not, I'm going with it.


	16. Chapter 15

Hermione walked into the living room, feeling excited and sad at the same time. Her she was, about to end one chapter of her life and begin a new one. Then, as she reached the living room door, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Mum?" she cried, not believing her eyes. "Dad?"

She rushed over to them, and said, "What are you doing here?"

Her dad stepped to where Draco was standing. He placed hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"You have found yourself a very convincing young man, Hermione," he said.

"I've what?" she asked, feeling very confused.

Mrs. Granger smiled. "Hermione dear, I wanted to apologize for not being there when you needed me the most."

By this time, Hermione had found herself sitting down.

"But you were so disappoint. In fact, furious might be a better word for it." Her shoulders sank as she realized she was almost trying to convince them to be upset with her.

Mr. Granger spoke up again.

"I admit. When you told us your decision, I was disappointed. Then when you told us you were pregnant - of all things! - I was outraged. After all, your future seemed to be heading straight down the toilet. But then, your young man here, he makes a pretty convincing argument."

She turned to Draco. "You did this?" she whispered. "When? How?"

This time, Mrs Granger spoke up first.

"I would never have wanted to miss your wedding, Hermione. You're my daughter, my only child. I've already missed the birth of my grandson. I, well your father and I both, we don't want to miss anything else. Draco here, made us realize that. Maybe this isn't exactly how we would have planned on meeting him, but that's in the past."

The tears spilled down her cheeks before she could stop them.

"I think you and I should acquaint ourselves with our grandson, " Mrs Granger nudged her husband.

Draco smiled. "Up the stairs, first room to the left. He should be awake soon."

Once they had left, Hermione turned to Draco. "When did… how did you know?" she stumbled all over herself, tears still streaming, and her nose had started running, making her look quite a mess.

He sat down and gently pulled her into his lap.

"I didn't mean for it to make you cry," he said. "I thought that this would make you happy."

She sniffed and looked t him. "I am happy. In fact, I don't think anything could have made me happier."

Then she gave him a curious look.

"What did you say to them? How did you ever…"

He grinned sheepishly. "You've talked more about them than you realize. It wasn't hard for me to find them. And as for what I said, I explained how I was to blame for what had happened and I wanted to make an honest woman of you."

"A what?" she said, pulling away slightly.

He shrugged. "It worked when Javier did it on _Days of Eternity." _

A grin crept on her face. "Are you saying that you've _watched _that?"

He looked hurt. "I like it. Besides, how else am I going to learn how muggles live?"

She coughed at the thought.

"Draco, I don't think that, well, _Days of Eternity_, is really the best way to learn."

"Why not? It's fascinating. I mean, in the past month, Javier wanted to marry Olivia, but Olivia was really having Desmond's baby. In the end, however, it _really _turned out to be Xavier's baby, but Michelle had changed the results to show that it was Desmond's baby. And then meanwhile…" he stopped to catch his breath.

She arched an eyebrow.

"You honestly think that's how things work in the muggle world?"

He shrugged. "If I'd have know, I would have taken muggle studies."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't believe all of that, can you?"

Their conversation ended there, as Mr and Mrs Granger walked back into the room.

Once they had reached the Ministry, Hermione and Draco walked inside, letting Mr and Mrs Granger trail behind, Mrs Granger carrying Scorpius.

"I still can't believe that they're here," Hermione told him as they headed toward the Magical Legal Department.

"I don't think your Mum can believe she's here either," Draco said. "I don't think she's put him down since she picked him up this morning."

Hermione smiled. "I never knew she was so maternal. I knew she loved me and all, but I guess I was always buried in a book and I never really gave her a chance."

A sad look crossed Draco's face at that moment, which he tried to dismiss, but not before Hermione saw.

"Oh, Draco, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sure your parents would have made terrific grandparents as well."

"My mother would have," he said softly. "When I was little, she treated me much the way yours treats Scorpius. My father on the other hand…" he trailed off, as though he didn't want less than pleasant memories clouding the happiness today was supposed to be.

"There you are!" Hermione and Draco jumped at the sudden outburst.

Harry and Ginny were standing there, Ginny's hands on her hips.

"We've looked all over for you."

Mr and Mrs Granger had caught up to them by this time.

Hermione breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Harry, Ginny, you remember my parents. Mum, Dad, you remember Harry and Ginny. "

"Do you, Hermione Jean Granger, take this man, Draco Lucius Malfoy, to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"Do you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, take hits woman, Hermione jean Granger, to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

It wasn't until that moment that both Draco and Hermione realized, that even though they had a baby together, that they had never kissed in front of anyone else. It seemed strange and awkward to be doing it right now, especially in front of Harry and Ginny and the Grangers, but Draco didn't care. He wrapped Hermione in his arms and tipped her back and kissed her softly, but firmly.

Harry and Ginny smiled and applauded softly, while Mr Granger beamed and Mrs Granger had tears running down her face as she alternated between looking at the two of them and at Scorpius.

The seven of them left the Ministry once the reached the outside doors, Mrs Granger stopped them.

"Your father and I are going to take Scorpius for the night for you," she told Hermione, smiling brightly.

"But, but…" Hermione stuttered out, feeling like a moron.

"We figured that you deserved at least one night alone, you know. I mean, this is your wedding night."

"If your mother's reaction to Scorpius today was any indication, Hermione, she's doing it mostly for herself, you know," Mr Granger kidded good naturedly.

"It was lovely seeing the two of you again," Mrs Granger directed at Harry and Ginny as it seemed they were getting ready to leave themselves.

"Likewise," Harry said, returning her smile.

But before they could leave, Draco stopped him.

"Harry?"

Harry stopped, realizing that Draco had called him "Harry" rather than "Potter".

"I have something I'd like to ask you."

Harry merely arched his eyebrows as he couldn't even begin to guess what it might be that Draco wanted to ask him.

"I have been thinking on this for awhile, and I want to ask you if you would consider becoming Scorpius' godfather."

Hermione tried to hide the initial shock she had at this announcement, as Draco hadn't even mentioned this to her, but it made her feel happy that he wanted this, not to mention that it just seemed so natural for him to ask.

Harry seemed flustered as well at the sudden question, but regardless, he answered quickly and matter of factly.

"I'd be honoured," he said.

Once Hermione and Draco got home, it felt strange to be there alone, without Scorpius. After all, even when they had been at school and shared the common room, it wasn't as though they had lived together - exactly. There were all of those other people that were around, and this was just - different.

"Do you... do you ever regret the way that things turned out?" Draco asked quietly, later that night when they were alone, cuddled on the sofa.

"You mean, us, and... everything?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Anything," he said.

She looked him in the eyes and stared a moment before saying anything. "No. I said I wouldn't have any regrets, remember?"

He paused a moment before he continued. "That wasn't what I meant. I know you said that, but that was about... I mean, being with me. After all, we're married now," he said, stumbling over the word as though it were foreign. "It doesn't seem quite real, does it?"

Distractedly, she ran her thumb across the inside of the ring on the inside of her hand.

"No. But then, neither did having a baby. Or learning who you truly were. In fact, nothing from the past year seems quite real, even now."


	17. Chapter 16

Hermione rolled over an blinked against the sunlight streaming in through the window. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she glanced over at Draco, who was still asleep and snoring softly. She carefully slid out from his arms as not to disturb him.

She wrapped herself in a her dressing gown and quietly padded across the floor into the bathroom. After closing the door behind her, she stared at herself in the mirror. She brought her hand up to push her hair out of her eyes and the light caught her ring and she stopped for a moment and just stared at it. Without warning, that was when the tears began to fall.

That ring represented so many things… and yet she realized she had never told Draco that she loved him.

The tears continued to fall as she remembered what Ginny had asked her the day she told her they were getting married.

*Flashback*

"_You're what?" Ginny had cried, her eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise. _

"_Draco and I, we're getting married.." _

"_When? Why?" she was so full of questions that they just kept popping out. _

"_I don't know when just yet. Soon, I guess. As for why, I mean, well…"_

"_Do you love him?" _

"_What?" Hermione's head snapped around so fast she felt as though she had given herself whiplash. _

"_Do you love him? I mean, ok, so you had a baby with him, You're sharing a home. People do it all the time without getting married. All I'm saying is, if you love him, that's great. Get married, have a great life together. But if you don't or if you even have to hesitate, you shouldn't do it." _

_A silence fell over the two of them while Hermione seemed to allow it to all sink in before she spoke. _

"_But I want to." _

"_You want to what?" _

"_I want to marry him." _

"_But do you love him? That's the question I asked. Not if you wanted to marry him." _

_Hermione focused her gaze on Ginny. _

"_He's different than he used to be. I never though Id' see the day or e the one to admit it. He's been there for me, when I needed him the most. Just when I needed someone, I didn't have to ask." _

_Ginny smiled. "Are you happy? That's important too."_

_She nodded. "He talks to me. I know it sounds stupid, but he talks to me, like really talks. We have things in common that I never would have thought about before." _

"_Just one more thing," Ginny said, suddenly extremely serious. "Are you sure that you're doing this because he's who he is and you aren't still comparing him to Ron?" _

_Her words struck Hermione to the core, as she realized that at the beginning that was what she had done. She couldn't hide it from herself anymore, that those times she had done everything she could to throw herself at him, it was because of Ron. And that Draco had been right that time, part of her had done it to make him jealous. Then something had changed, somewhere in there. He'd stood up for her, he hadn't cared what anyone thought, but he did it for her. But somewhere in there, everything had changed. _

_I just wish I knew if he was doing this for me, or if it's all because of Scorpius, she thought. _

_When he'd first found out she was pregnant, he hadn't turned away from her. _

"_You don't have to say anything else," Ginny said. _

"_Why not?" Hermione asked, confused. _

"_Because the answer is all over your face when you talk about him. You've fallen in love with him, haven't you."_

*End of Flashback*

Even now, she couldn't pinpoint exactly when it had happened, but she knew that Ginny had been right. Why had it taken her so long to admit to herself that she'd fallen in love with him?

"Why does it seem like I'm always walking in on you crying in the bathroom?"

She jumped as she saw Draco's reflection in the mirror before she saw him standing next to her.

"You don't have to cry," he said. "I'm sure your parents will bring him back today," Draco said, jumping to the conclusion that she'd been crying because she missed Scorpius.

But she could only shake her head.

"They aren't bringing him back?" he asked, confused.

She shook her head again, this time sucking back a sob as she did so.

"Baby," he said softly, using the endearment in the most natural manner even though it was the first time he'd ever said it," tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know."

"What did you call me?" she whispered.

"When? What are you talking about? You mean just now? When I called you baby?"

She nodded. "You never said that before."

"Just tell me why you're crying," he said, "and staring at your reflection."

"Because I love you," she whispered.

"Because you what?" he asked, not catching the last part.

"You heard me," she said, louder this time.

"No I didn't. You said 'because I…" then you mumbled. I didn't' hear the rest of it."

"Because I love you!" she said, much louder this time.

He froze. "You love me?"

She nodded as the tears started again.

"You're crying because you love me?"

She nodded again.

"I know that you could have done a lot better for yourself, I still can't quite believe that you're here with me, but is it really so bad that you have to cry about loving me?"

He'd hoped that would make her stop, and maybe even laugh, but it didn't.

He pulled her into his arms and just held her.

"You really love me?" he whispered.

She nodded again.

"But why are you crying? That's the part that I still don't understand"

"Because I'm not supposed to," she whispered.

He smiled in spite of himself. "I'm still not sure I understand. It sounds like you're telling me you're crying because you fell in love with me, event but you didn't want to? Or don't want to?"

She sighed and allowed herself to sink into his arms, letting him ease some of the weight off her shoulders, both literally and figuratively.

"It seemed to make more sense before you said it that way."

He turned her around slightly, so that they were facing each other.

"Do you remember that night when I told you that you could tell me anything?"

Her head, positioned right under his chin, nodded so that his head bobbed back and forth.

"I meant it then and I mean it now. There's never going to be anything that's so bad you can't tell me about it. I think we've come just about as far as two people can…"

"It isn't that it's a bad thing… it isn't that at all. It's more that… well, what if I was wrong before? What if it isn't going to last?"

Now she had thoroughly confused him.

"I never imagined myself as a father… at least in any bit of seriousness, and I also never did sit around and imagine myself being married… but now that both have happened to me, I couldn't imagine them any other way. I know it isn't the most conventional way of things happening, but that doesn't mean they can't last…"

His words were touching, they really were, but that didn't mean he truly loved her. No matter how many times he told her she could tell him anything, and no matter how much that she did tell him, she knew that was the one thing that she just couldn't come out and ask.

"I know there's something else in that head of yours, Hermione. Something that is just dying to get out. I can always tell…. The way that your eyes go back and forth gives it away every time."

She stared at the floor as she sighed. There were some things that would never be the same again, and there were some things that would never change. And one of those was the fact that at that moment, she wanted to kick him. Hard. Even after everything they had been through, he could still infuriate her!

"Because you don't love me," she mumbled.

He was speechless for a minute, trying to let what she had just said sink in.

"You don't think that I… please tell me that I heard you wrong."

She just shook her head.

"Why do you think that I don't love you?" he whispered, trying to get her to tell him without pushing her.

"Because you've never said it. I mean, you've done all kinds of wonderful, absolutely outstanding, things for me. You bought this home, you completely decorated a nursery, you went to my parents and brought them in for the wedding, there isn't much more I could possibly ask for. But I just can't help but ask myself, are you doing it because you love me, or for the fact that I was carrying your baby and now I'm the mother of your son?"


	18. Chapter 17

Draco had never realized how fragile Hermione was until now. Her body seemed to literally sag against his as he knew she was waiting for an answer. An answer he should have given long before now.

"You are the mother of my son," he said. "But that isn't all you are."

He though back tot that night, not so long ago, where he had kissed her for the first time. He hadn't wanted to stop. But he'd made himself because he knew he didn't want to hurt her more than she'd already been hurt.

He smiled down at her. "That first night I ever kissed you, there were fireworks," he said sheepishly. "It was the best kissed I'd ever had in my life. And I wanted to do it again, which I did. I fell pretty hard. Once I had pulled off the blinders I had been wearing, I became aware of that had been in front of me all the time, only hidden because of my pride and snobbishness. I pulled back because I didn't want you to think I was after anything else."

He ran his thumb around the outside of her face, sending tingles running down her spine.

"The night you asked me to make love to you felt like Heaven. But I was so nervous, I won't lie. I wanted it to be perfect for you. Because I had already fallen in love with you."

"You what?" she whispered, not sure she had heard right.

He smiled at her.

"I love you, Hermione Malfoy, for now, and forever. Nothing is going to change that."

That was when the tears began to pour.

"You love me," she said sniffling. "You told me that you love me."

He lowered his head to kiss her on top of hers. "I should have said it a long time ago."

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Because you've said it now."

George Weasley yawned and stretched his arms as he reached to open the door, the same way he had for the past eighteen months.

Ever since Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had taken off for the better, and when Ron had shown up, in the middle of the night no less, George hadn't asked questions, just moved him in and together they had worked on making it everything it could be.

That was how he had ended up being able to afford the townhouse had had purchased here in Bristol.

He opened the door, ready to pick up the newspaper, the muggle London Times to be exact (He didn't care what anyone else thought, he liked knowing what was going on in the muggle world) when the sight before his eyes made him forget the newspaper as well as the milk the milkman had left.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not being able to take his eyes off the blonde who stood in front of him.

She smiled. "I do hope so. This is the home of Ron Weasley, is it not?"

He nodded, a bit unsure of what it was she was there or. "It is, but exactly, who are you?"

She smiled, followed with a little chuckle. "Of course. My name is Daphne Greengrass. I came by because I wanted to introduce Ron to his daughter."

It was the only time in his life where George felt more like Ron's father than his brother.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Ron?" he asked, once he had literally pulled Ron out of bed and into the kitchen.

Ron shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And even if I did, who exactly are you to tell me about that? What all you ever did in your life?"

George had heard quite enough. He now regretted not finding out more about why Ron had just shown up on him, because maybe it would answer some of the burning questions he now had.

"You want to know why? Because Daphne Greengrass came by to see you this morning."

Ron froze. He regretted not having given more thought to her.

"I thought that might get your attention. She's in the sitting room. Go ahead. I'll stay right here."

Reluctantly, Ron stood up and walked in. Why had she even bothered coming by? She didn't honestly think anything was going to come about from their night together, did she? He didn't dislike her, but at the same time, it was something he wished he could take back.

"Daphne?" he whispered, tentatively as he walked through the doorway.

She turned her head and greeted him with a smile.

"Hi," she whispered back.

He shifted uncomfortably as he wasn't sure what he needed to do. Why had she just shown up here like this?

He then blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Daphne. It was, a mistake. I never should have allowed it to happen."

She had a wistful look on her face as he said that.

"You probably wonder what I'm doing here."

He nodded.

She stood up form where she was sitting and reached over to pick something up.

"This is why," she said, turning back around.

"Ron, I want you to meet your daughter, Rose."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me why she was here?" Ron shouted at George who was seated at the table.

For a moment, he didn't answer, he just lifted his cup of coffee to his mouth and took a sip.

"I shouldn't have had to, Ron. It's a big deal. A huge deal."

Ron couldn't understand why George was being so calm, then he realized that he wasn't the one who's life had just been torn apart.

"A baby? She just shows up here with a baby and I'm supposed to believe it's mine?"

"I'm not going to judge you on your - activities - that you partake in. Frankly, I believe they're none of my business. On the other hand, t the risk of sounding like our mother, you've made your bed. So exactly what are you planning on doing about it?"

Ron flopped into a chair and sulked.

"Maybe it isn't even mine," he said, sounding more confident than he felt.

George shook his head. "You can tell yourself that all you want. But I saw her. And I know she isn't mine. And if she isn't yours, then Percy, Bill or Charlie have some explaining to do."

His attempt at humour was lost on Ron. Completely.

Ron's head was sunk in his hands.

"What am I going to do?" he whispered. And when he lifted his head, George saw the tears in his eyes.

"What am I going to do with a baby?"

George stood up and walked around to his chair.

"That's a tough question. I don't know what to say except I'll do whatever you need to for help. Mum is the one I'd worry about if I were you."

Silence filled the room as Ron mulled over what George said. He sighed.

"she's still waiting, you know. You need to go in there, especially when she watched you just walk out on her and in here."

"What do I say?"

"You have to figure that out. But I'll come with you. I want to be acquainted with my niece."

Ron looked warily at him.

"What? I haven't been around a baby since Ginny was born."

"I'm sorry for bursting in here on you, Ron. And you too, George," Daphne said a bit later.

"It's nothing," George said, smiling. Looking at the two of them, he didn't know who he felt sorrier for.

Ron kept glancing over at the baby carrier on the sofa, as if he were hoping it would just disappear and he would wake up from a bad dream.

Daphne stood up and said, "We should really go. We've imposed on you long enough."

That was when Ron found his voice.

"So what was with all that?" he said. "You waltz in here, tell me I have a bay, and then just decide to leave/"

His sudden outburst shocked her. It threw George for a loop as well.

She glanced at Ron from the corner of her eye, as though afraid he would yell again. "Would you, would you rather I left her here for awhile? You could spend some time with her for awhile?"

Ron didn't say anything, but she took his reaction as a yes.

While Ron was otherwise occupied, Daphne caught George's attention. "Can I speak with you for a moment?" she said.

They walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sure you're thinking the same thing your brother is," she said.

"About why you're really here?"

She nodded.

"I gave up trying to figure out why people do what they do long ago."

She looked own at the ground.

"I never really knew my dad. I was only three when he left. Astoria was only one. Mum says one day he just went to work and never came back."

George just lifted his eyebrows as if in response, and encouraged her to keep talking.

"It was one of those things, you know, where I always wished I would have known more about him. To be honest, other than that little bit, Mum never did say much."

She wrung her hands a few times, and just watching, he could swear that there was much more going on but didn't say anything. He'd learned that people did better when not pushed.

"She's not even here anymore," Daphne said, as she started pacing around the room.

"In the war, she died. They killed her," the last part coming out a whisper.

"Astoria and I had been at school and part of the battle and everything. We'd bee part of your side," she quickly added.

"It surprised loads of people. After all, there were, pure-blood Slytherins, coming from a line of Slytherins, fighting with the "good" side. Anyway, it wasn't until it was all over that we got the message. They'd raided the house. We couldn't go back. So we stayed with family, and then went back to school. Where else could we go, you know? Then well, ultimately, somewhere in there, Rose is here."

She didn't know why she was confiding in this practical stranger, but it felt good to get the story out. She didn't want anyone to think she was here for any reason other than why she was really here.

"I'm just, I wanted to tell you this because I don't think that Ron would listen to me."

The more people talked to George like this, the older he felt. It seemed completely unreal that he was only twenty two years old. He felt like he was about sixty.

She stood up once again, though this time seemed to have a bit of a finality to it.

"I really should go," she said. "I've stayed way longer than I should have and I know I've put you out."

They walked to the sitting room where they saw Ron holding the baby, though he looked very afraid of doing so.

"If it's alright," she whispered, "I'll leave her here for the day."

George nodded. "I think that might be a good idea."

He looked over at her and smiled. "I think you've just given him a reason to live again. I mean to _really _live again."

Without saying anything, they both thought of the war and everything and everyone that had been lost in it.

"I'll be back this afternoon," she said, as she walked through the door.

"We'll be waiting," he said, as the door closed behind her.

_Two Days Later_

Hermione stretched her arms and yawned as she stepped out of the bedroom and into the hallway. The house was quiet, and if it wasn't for the fact that Draco rose every day at the same time like clockwork, she wouldn't think there was anyone in the house awake.

She passed by the extra room, the one that her parents had been staying in, and didn't hear a peep. She supposed it truly was for the best, that Scorpius got a chance to know his grandparents, though on the other hand, he was a mere eight months old. She could only hope that her parents would keep it up as he got older.

"Good morning," she said, as she entered the kitchen.

"Draco? What's wrong?" she said, as she caught sight of his face. He had sat at the table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a copy of the Daily Prophet in the other, with a horrible look on his face.

Closing it, he laid it on the table.

"Daphne Greengrass was found murdered," he said. "No one knows when, why, or how, just yet. You would think the how would be easy, but it isn't that simple."

Hermione said in the chair next to him. "Daphne Greengrass, wasn't she in our year?"

He nodded. "She was. She was in Slytherin. Her younger sister, Astoria, was two years behind us."

_Murder. _The though sent chills down her spine. It certainly put a different feel on a morning that until five minutes ago had been so pleasant.

He sighed as he rolled his shoulders back, attempting to stretch them out.

"And with that being said, and because of it, guess who has to get going?"

She looked at him.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," he told her.

"You mean, you got the job?" she cried, her face beaming.

He nodded. "I did. You're looking at the new Head of Magical Investigations."

She threw her arms around him. "That's wonderful news!"

The she stopped. "I mean, it's wonderful that you got the job. I just, wish it was under different circumstances."

He sighed. "You aren't the only one. My first day on the job knowing that I'll have to investigate a murder, on my first day!, is definitely not something I would have expected, or have ever wanted to do."

He her hand in his and held it there for a moment. "I couldn't have done it without you," he said. "You believe in me. You made it possible."

He stood up and brushed off the few crumbs that had landed on his freshly pressed dress robes.

"I feel important now," he told her. "We're connected to the Ministry Floo Network."

She walked him to the fireplace where he reached for some floo powder.

Making sure not to get any on her, he wrapped an arm around her and pressed his lips to hers. "I love you," he whispered, and was off in a flash.

Hermione sat back in a chair and let everything that had happened sink in.

_Murder. _It was a horrible thing to happen to anyone, but especially someone so young. Then she picked up the paper to read the entire article.

There at the bottom was a picture and sure enough, it was the same person Hermione had been thinking of.

But a closer look made her freeze in her tracks.

Under the photo was a caption that read "The young Daphne Greengrass is survived by her sister, Astoria, and her young daughter, Rose Weasley."

_It couldn't be, _Hermione thought to herself. _It just couldn't be. _


	19. Chapter 18

"I'm sure you never expected your first day to be quite like this," Harry greeted Draco.

"Would you have?" Draco asked wryly.

While he knew he was certainly indebted to Harry for helping him land the job, they had agreed they'd be the only ones who knew. To anyone else, they were merely working together.

"It won't get any easier by sitting around for it," Harry sighed, heading down a hallway, motioning for Draco to follow him.

Hey finally stopped at the end, where a lone doorway was and Harry turned the knob and the door swung open.

"This is your office. Chances are, you won't spend much time here. Most of your time will be spent out in the field."

He paused, as if not sure if he were forgetting something.

"Relax. It will be fine. Like you said, it's my first day. I'll just go with it."

"That might work in some cases, but now, well, I'm not sure if your supervisor will like it."

"Well, who is it? I'm sure they can't be that bad."

Harry grinned. "Me."

Hermione kept looking at the photo, moving ever so slightly, as the Daphne in the photo held her baby on her hip and helped her wave at the camera.

She blinked her eyes, but there it was, clear as crystal.

Was she really Ron's? Was that where he had gone when he disappeared form Hogwarts? Everything was spinning around her in her head, so much, that it made her head hurt.

A knock on the door ripped Draco away from his thoughts and he looked up to see Harry standing there, a terribly serious look on his face. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

Draco sighed. "Alright. Go ahead , tell me what I've done wrong."

A smile threatening to crack his face, Harry began to talk.

"Nothing. You're doing great. I suppose," he added as an afterthought. "You've only been her two hours. But that look is for show. All the people out there, you know."

He perched himself on the edge of Draco's desk.

"I'm actually here for personal reasons."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "And at the risk of sounding like a gossipy old lay, I'm going to ask. How're things with you and Hermione?"

"We're… fine, " Draco said slowly, his eyes narrowing. "Where are you going with this?"

"I've told you before. She's my friend. In fact, she's like my sister. I want to make sure she's happy. And… I want to know if you are."

Draco looked up in surprise.

"Yeah. I was referring to _you, _Malfoy."

Why was everyone suddenly asking him about his feelings? He'd made the mistake of watching one of those shows late at night, when he had been trying to get Scorpius to sleep, and had decided, never again. In fact, he'd rather watch a marathon of Infomercials instead. Besides, hadn't Harry figured out he was in love with Hermione before he knew himself?

"She makes me happy," he said finally. "Just being near her opened up a whole new world for me. She's the best thing to happen to me, except maybe for Scorpius. "

Harry sat there, just listening. "Why did you ask me to be Scorpius' godfather?"

"Because I knew you'd do a good job at it. And because I know I can trust you."

"Trust me to do what?"

"To do right by them."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just mean, you have to be one of the most self-less people that I know. Who would I rather ask to take care of my family if something happened to me?"

"Well, regardless of your reasons, I still view it as an honour."

Silence surrounded them as they both became lost in their thoughts. Who would have ever thought such a simple question could make them think so much?

Hermione was lost in her own thoughts until Scorpius woke from his nap and let her know that he wanted to be fed. He was one of the quietest baby's ever, but when he wanted something, he didn't let it go unnoticed.

Lifting him out of his crib, she cradled him into her arms and walked with him over to the sofa where she started to feed him.

Once Scorpius had settled in, it freed her thoughts to wander back to where they had been before.

As though she had been able to read her mind, Ginny popped in at about that moment.

Without a word, she took a seat in the chair across from where Hermione was sitting and just stared.

Finally, the silence was getting to Hermione, who said, "Just say it already."

"What is there to say?" Ginny said. "The paper! We had to read about it in the _paper!" _

All Hermione could do was nod.

"Mum is beside herself. There's not really any other way to put it. And Dad, well, he did loads of muttering under his breath."

Gazing at Scorpius, Hermione said, "So it's true then?"

Ginny nodded. "Mum finally tracked Ron down, he's living with George now, and she managed to get George to tell her what all has been going on. If he's telling the truth, and not just covering for Ron, he just found out himself."

She could hear the words around her, but suddenly the started to make less and less sense. In the most ironic of ways, Hermione suddenly realized how Ron must have felt when finding out about her being pregnant. It certainly didn't excuse the actions that had resulted from that, but for the first time, she placed herself in his shoes and suddenly started to feel guilty.

"Hermione? Have you even heard a word that I said?" Ginny asked, pulling her back into reality.

"I did. I was just… thinking."

"I can't exactly blame you for that. I mean, it's definitely something to take in. He finds out he has a kid out there… and then before he's even able to register that knowledge, she ends up dead? And even worse, murdered!"

Hermione wished that people would stop saying that word. She figured that she'd heard it and read it enough in one day to last her for a lifetime.

Draco arrived home at about six o'clock. He paused for a moment when he saw the shadow of Hermione in a chair in the sitting room, and from the position that she was sitting in, he could tell that she was feeding Scorpius.

He leaned against the door frame, practically paralysed at just the sight of her. He remembered how that day, so not very long ago, she had doubted that he loved her. He knew if only there was a way he could bottle up the feelings he felt and shared them, that there would never be a doubt again.

The sight of her sitting there, loving looking down at their son as she fed him, sent a sudden rush through him. No matter how many times he watched, he just couldn't get enough.

Silently, he laid his things down and went into the room, sitting beside her. She jumped slightly, but quickly relaxed.

"How was your day?" she asked, turning her head to look at him., as she placed Scorpius over her shoulder and began patting his back slowly trying to get him to burp.

"It wasn't bad. I had loads of paperwork to sort through and go over. A bit tedious, but overall, not bad for a first day."

"I'm glad," she said. "I think it's wonderful that you've been given an opportunity for something like this.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again," he said. "I never could have done it without you."

She smiled as she walked over to the sleep a way crib that they had set up in the sitting room. She laid Scorpius down in it, and he immediately rolled over and started sucking his thumb. Not for the first time did she think about how blessed they were to have such an easy going baby.

They had come so far these this past year, though it had really started before that. Had it really been more than a year since all of this had started?

"Do you believe in fate?" he asked suddenly, causing her eyes to widen.

"Fate?" she asked, as almost in an echo.

He nodded. "You know, where something happens because it was meant to happen?"

"I know what it means," she said, "but it just doesn't sound like something that you would say… or wonder for that matter."

She could swear a blush was starting to grace his cheeks.

"Probably from all of the movies that I have watched lately," he said, trying to get himself out of it.

She just shook her head. "Whoever would have thought what kind of a monster I had created when I got you started on those?"

That was when he got the serious look on his face again.

"That was kind of what I meant by fate," he said. "Maybe you were supposed to have that, because it was supposed to bring me closer to you."

"Draco Malfoy," she said. "I do believe I have discovered your soft side. You are a hopeless romantic at heart, did you know that?"


	20. Chapter 19

Molly Weasley sighed as she heard the baby crying and stood up, crossed herself and went over to the bassinette to pick her up.

From the moment that she had set eyes on her, it was love at first sight. There was no doubt about it that this was a Weasley baby - she had the same red hair, mostly fuzz still at this point, but red all the same as well as bright green eyes. Molly supposed that it was the mother instinct in her, but even at first meeting she was able to pick out small features about Rose that she could contribute to different members of the family.

"Molly?" Arthur whispered as he walked into the room yawning and scratching the top of his head.

"Hmm?" she answered, never taking her eyes off the baby.

"You should come to bed," he said, glancing at the time.

Molly shook her head, careful not to disturb Rose, who had just fallen asleep.

"Molly, you have to sleep. The baby's asleep, I've been asleep, the rest of the house is asleep."

"I can't sleep," she said. "I've tried and it doesn't work."

Little Rose chose that moment to yawn, and reached her little clenched fists into the air at the same time.

Arthur felt his heart pull a little at that. Molly shifted over to make room for him to sit beside them.

"Been a long time since we've had baby in this house," he whispered, his eyes on the baby in Molly's arms.

She nodded. "And before long, there'll be two."

"Two?"

"Don't forget Bill and Fleur. She's due any time now, you know."

He smiled. "Babies make the world a little better, don't you think?"

"I think they make it a lot better."

Ron awoke with a start, and it took him a moment to realize where he was. Then everything came rushing back.

"_Ronald Weasley! What is the meaning of this?" He had shot up in bed to find himself face to face with his mother. A groan escaped before he could hold it back._

"_Do NOT groan and grumble at me, mister. Don't you think you have a bit of explaining to do?"_

_He shrugged, not knowing what else that he could do. _

_She threw the paper on the bed and started at him. _

"_Where did your father and I go wrong with you, Ron? Didn't we always teach and tell you that you could come to us no matter what?" _

_He nodded. _

"_And you didn't think one of these times is included in this?"_

_For the first time, he took a good look at the paper. _

_His face grew white when he read the headline. _

"_Daphne's… dead?"_

_A silence filled the room while she let him take it all in. _

"_Ron," she said, in a much softer voice this time. "Why didn't you tell us about Rose? Your father and I, we could have…" she shook her head. "But we had to read about it in the paper, of all places!" _

_She stopped again, as she took a deep breath. _

"_And you," she said, turning her gaze to George, who was standing in the doorway. "I can't believe you didn't at least say something." _

_Putting his hands on her shoulders, George said, "Mum, just calm down a moment. Before you work yourself into hysterics, at least hear out the whole story." _

_She narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. _

"_I'm waiting." _

"_In Ron's defence, and this is the truth, we didn't know anything about this ourselves until about two weeks ago."_

"_Two weeks! And you didn't say something?" _

"_Daphne said she'd be back that afternoon. How were we to know she wouldn't?"_

"_So wait a minute, back up and start from the beginning," _

"_Mum!" Ron cried. "Can I at least get dressed first?" _

"_Very well," she said. She followed George out of the room. _

_As they headed to the sitting room. George tried to continue. _

"_Mum, try to be a little easy on him. He's had a rough time of it." _

_She raised her eyebrows as if to say And I haven't?_

_He shook his head. _

"_Mum, you didn't see him the night he first showed up. I've never seen him like that. Then all of the sudden out of nowhere, this Daphne shows up saying she brought Ron's daughter. I just put two and two together that they were related."_

_Molly buried her head in her hands. Through everything the family had been through, she'd been the strong one. And now she felt powerless. _

_Ron stepped into the room then, and froze. He hated it when she cried. He hated it even worse when it was his fault. _

_I'm sorry, Mum, he thought. _

Molly and Arthur had drifted off to sleep, still sitting there, when the white cloud found its way into the room.

"Mum? Dad? I'm taking fleur to St. Mungo's. She's in labour."

The best part about patroness messages were that hey could repeat themselves over and over if they required an answer, which was how Bill had set his. With his being a horse, sit just pranced itself throughout the house until everyone was awake. Which wasn't nearly as many as it had once been.

Ron was the first to be coherent enough to understand what it was saying.

Apparently, those who were Veela didn't take as long to give birth, because by time Arthur, Molly, George and Ron made it to St. Mungo's, Bill was waiting to tell them the news.

"It's a girl," he said, beaming.

"Another girl," Arthur said. "What do you know. Weasley girls, by birth, not marriage, were practically unheard of until Ginny was born. Now we have two…"

"Ginny," Molly said suddenly. "We need to let her know. I think she over to.." she stopped, glancing at Ron.

"She went where?" he asked.

"Over to Hermione's," she finished.

His body went rigid and if he'd have been a cat, his hair would have been on end.

"A word?" George said, gesturing Ron to follow him.

"Alright. I promised myself I wouldn't get involved. After all, its none of my business. But this has gone on long enough. I don't know what the hell happened between the two of you, but I'm going to ask and you're going to tell me."

Ron sighed. "Where do you want me to start? "

"The beginning would be nice."

"How long do you have?" Ron tried to sound sarcastic, but it came out sounding more defeated.

"As long as you need."

"I guess the beginning starts back when we went to hunt horcruxes."

George nodded. "I had a feeling that had something to do with it."

"Yeah, well, being the jealous bastard that I am, I left, under the impression Hermione and Harry were hooking up behind my back."

"And the plot thickens."

"Shut up, would you? Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I had the story right up to this point."

"So anyway, I came back, right? And tried to apologize. She forgave me, after awhile, and we made up."

He stopped, but the look on his face told George everything he needed to know.

"So then, things seemed to be alright until I had to screw things up. I just couldn't let my jealousy go. So I accused her and Harry - again."

"And she still stayed with you? She must be a saint, after all that."

"Yeah, well, that was pretty much the beginning of the end. The next school year started and we all went back. Hermione started having trouble with her parents and everything, and I wasn't as nice as I should have been."

George could tell where this was going, but didn't say anything.

Ron paused in his talking for a moment and looked down at his hands.

"Then I started drinking."

George raised his eyebrows, but again said nothing as he patiently kept listening.

"It got kind of out of hand, I have to admit. How I didn't get caught, I'll never know. Or why she put up with me as long as she did."

"I ended up saying a few things I regret. Well, I regret more than just hose, but especially those. That's when I knew it was over. Could I blame her? No. But I wanted to. I wanted to blame everyone back then. Fred was dead. I don't know who did it, but I needed someone to blame."

George nodded. It all sounded very much like what he had expected.

"It wasn't easy avoiding each other, but we managed. So to get my mind off of all my screw-ups, I threw myself into Quidditch practices. So then one everything after a partially bad one on my part, I ha to go the hospital wing. And when I got there, I got the shock of my life. I heard that… she was pregnant."

"Dear God," George said, finally speaking. "You've got _two _kids?"

Ron shook his head. "It isn't mine. It's… Draco Malfoy's."

If George hadn't been sitting at that moment, he figured he'd have fainted.

"The same Draco Malfoy?"

Ron nodded. "So when that came to light, we got into it."

He decided to leave out the part where Ginny had petrified them.

"So afterwards, Daphne came up, she sae me punching a wall - the wall won by the way - and tried to be nice to me. Then I well, too advantage of the situation. I felt really bad afterwards. She really seemed to like me I just used her. So that's when I ended on your doorstep."

George stretched his arms above his head.

"That is some story."

"Well, now you know. Anyway, so I haven't seen her since then, but I know Ginny has. But even she hasn't spoken to me much."

"I've been living under a rock, apparently," George said. "Nobody tells me anything."

"I can't blame her. She was there that night. She witnessed me going off on Harry as well as Hermione, and then told Draco Malfoy he should have died instead of Fred."

George didn't say anything. After all, he'd felt as though his own life had ended when Fred died. But he did the best he could to get on with his life and to make Weasley's Wheezes the best it could be to be an honour to Fred's memory.

"I take it that didn't go over well?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I said a few things, and you know how it is, after you have a few drinks you don't really pay attention to what it is that you're saying and so I didn't really think it was that bad, but Hermione took it pretty hard. And then Ginny jumped in and told me to stop. But I was really letting everybody have it by that time. And then _he _jumped in to defend her. Which pissed me off even more. After I sobered up you know, I realized I was out of line, accusing her of going around and sleeping around with him. But what do you know? I was right."

"Are you so sure that she was, or did your words drive her to it?"

The words were so low that he might not have even said anything. But the moment they were out, Ron knew that he was right.

"Probably. After all, she never gave me any real reason to think that, you know. I just spouted off because I was mad."

"And if my guess is correct, the end result of your 'spouting off' is, correct me if I'm wrong, two children."

"Don't remind me."

"Well, Ron, someone has to. After all, like it or not, you _are _Rose's father. Her mother is dead. She's just a _baby. _You've stepped into the real world now. You're a dad."

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around.

"Ginny?"

"Hello, Ron," she said.

"How's…Hermione?" he made himself ask.

Looking startled, Ginny said, "She's great. Really great in fact."

He figured while he was on this honesty kick, he might as well go with it full force.

"Do you think… do you think she'd ever forgive me? For the way that I treated her?"

"Probably so." Ron jumped at the sound of Harry's voice. "Remember… she's always been good at getting over being mad at you. Even if you might not deserve it."

Biting back his pride, Ron held out his hand. "Harry? I want to… apologize for the way that I treated you. After all, I took things out on you as well as everyone else and I won't lie. It's been hell not having my best friend."

Harry took it. "Ron, I won't lie either. There are loads of things that I could say about that. But I won't. It's best to let bygones be bygones."

Now that he had made the first step forward into making up with Harry, Ron felt better. But he knew that he wouldn't feel completely better until he made up with Hermione.


	21. Chapter 20

Harry felt nervous as he walked into the small church, Ginny by his side. He had been small the last time he had been, and didn't remember much. But the moment they had all stepped into the this small stone church in Godric's Hollow, he knew there was a huge difference between muggle church and wizard church.

Ginny couldn't quite understand what he was gaping about, but decided to leave it alone.

Draco and Hermione were in front of them, and Harry could tell that Hermione was having the same reaction.

Silently, they all slipped into a pew together and sat down.

The small wizard who walked in next reminded Harry very much of Professor Flitwick.

He stepped up to the podium and greeted the congregation.

As he began the sermon (as Harry hadn't yet learned what he Wizarding equivalent word was yet) it seemed to hit home to more than just one person.

"As many have debated over the years, or centuries, how similar the muggle world is to the Wizarding world. Today we're going to talk about issues that affect everyone, regardless of who they are."

Draco reached for Hermione's hand and gently clasped it in his own.

He thought back to his first meeting with the Grangers and how he felt when he realized he was standing in the home of two muggles. and how that was when he had learned that they weren't really as different from the way that his family had been, though in a much different way.

"Regardless of who you are and where you are from, the most important thing you can do is always remember to do the right thing."

"Today we are here, all for the same reason. For the baptism of Scorpius Malfoy."

Mrs Granger had tears in her eyes, and Hermione could honestly say that she had never seen her mother cry as much as she had during the past year. It was almost as though she were a different person.

He then turned toward Harry and Ginny and as he started to speak to them, Harry felt his face and neck grow hot as he felt as though he were being put on the spot.

_How ironic, _he thought. _I'm able to fight and defeat a dark wizard with no problem, but get all nervous when all I'm going to be doing is answer a few questions. _

"Are you, Harry James Potter, prepared to perform all duties of being a godfather to young Scorpius here, in the event of his needing you to do so?"

Harry nodded.

"As well as to help prepare him for a life of heading forward into doing the right thing?"

Again, he nodded.

That was when the wizard turned his attention onto Ginny, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn't so bad.

Once Ginny had been asked the same questions and had answered, Harry realized that they were finished.

Hermione was too busy fussing with Scorpius as well as talking to her parents that she missed the shared wink between Draco and Ginny as they headed back into the house.

It was eerily quiet as they walked into, and then she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard, "SURPRISE!"

"Mrs Weasley?" she said, in disbelief. "Mr Weasley? George? What are you all doing here?"

"Why, we came to see you, of course, my dear," Mrs Weasley said.

"But why… how? When?" the words just poured out of her mouth as though she no control over them.

"Because I asked them to come with me," she heard.

"Ron? Why… what are you doing here?"

"Draco, just calm down," Harry said, while Draco, who was clearly agitated, kept pacing around the room.

"How can I? When _he's _in there with her? No offence," he said to Ginny, and to the other Weasley's as they glanced in his direction.

"I think this is just what they need," Harry told him. "Draco, think about it. What have you been trying to get accomplished at work all this time?"

"Trying to solve a murder that looks like I'll have no chance at succeeding at."

Harry shook his head. "Besides that. _Whose _murderer are you looking for?"

"Daphne's. You know that, why?"

Again, Harry shook his head. "Draco, put your jealousy aside for just a second. Calm down. You are looking for Daphne's murderer. She was your friend. Just remember that. Then think about this. _She _was the mother Ron's daughter. That little baby girl that is right over there?" He pointed over to where Molly was holding her. "We aren't in school anymore. We aren't teenagers. We have to let bygones be bygones."

Draco knew he'd lost. It wasn't like he thought that Ron was going to _do _anything. But at the same time, he just couldn't stand the idea of the two of them being in there. _Alone_. _Together_.

He shook his head as he remembered something that he'd asked Harry only a few days before.

*Flashback*

"_Harry?" Draco asked suddenly._

"_Hmm?"_

"_Do you believe in God?"_

_He whipped his head around. "Do I what?"_

"_Do you believe in God? I mean, you grew up with muggles. Did they take you to church?"_

"_Church?"_

_'Yeah, church. You know, the place where people go and pray and whatnot?"_

_"I know what church is. I just didn't expect you to."_

_"Believe it or not, I've actually got some services on the television. Enough to know that I'd like to know more about it."_

_"And why are you asking me?"_

_"You grew up with muggles. I figure that they might have taken you sometime."_

_Harry thought back to the couple of times that he had actually been taken to church with the Dursley's. It wasn't because they had wanted to, obviously, but because they had had no choice._

_"Why don't you ask Hermione about church? She could probably answer your questions better than I could." _

*End of Flashback*

Everything else that the wizard had said earlier floated around Draco's mind, as the words repeated themselves.

The right thing. Life was full of people doing things for the wrong reason, but he wanted to be different. And his mind drifted again to work around the dilemma that he had been facing. He sighed inwardly to himself. Doing the right thing at that moment mean doing everything in his power to catch Daphne's murderer, before they could do it again.


	22. Chapter 21

A/N: This is actually the beginning of Part 2, so there has been an elapse of time in the story.

* * *

A crack outside the door caught Hermione by surprise as she realized that it was about six o'clock and time for Draco to be home. But why wasn't he using the Floo Network? And Apperating _outside _the house?

She reached out to pen the door to surprise him and gasped.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" she cried. But instead of the usual grin Harry sported whenever he came by, he had a stone expression on his face.

"Harry?" she asked again, staring at him. "Harry, what is it? Is it… is Ginny alright? Has something happened to her?" she asked.

He shook his head, and then looked at her for the first time since he arrived.

"Sit down, Hermione," he said. Not taking her eyes of him, she sank down into the sofa.

Harry seated himself next to her.

He inhaled slowly, followed by a long, drawn out exhale. He reached over and took her hand in his and still avoided talking to her.

"Hermione, there's been… an accident. There was an accident at the Ministry today."

"What kind of accident? Was anyone hurt? Harry, just tell me. What happened?"

He just slowly shook his head and she could swear she saw a tear threatening to fall.

"There was nothing anyone could do. Draco's been… he's dead, Hermione."

For a moment, she had no reaction. She just had a blank stare while she looked at Harry.

Without words having to be said, he opened his arms to her and she found herself falling in them.

A loud, uncontrolled sob escaped her, shattering into the silence like a pistol shot.

Her eyes bloodshot and swollen, she pulled away and looked up at him.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"No one really knows yet. My personal guess is that he was getting too close to uncovering the truth in Daphne's murder, and realizing that he was a threat, they decided to get rid of him as well. There was no sign of a struggle, there was nothing caught on surveillance. If Penelope, the secretary for the department, hadn't stopped in to remind him of the meeting tomorrow, we probably still wouldn't know."

"How is she doing?" Ginny asked Harry a short while later, as they stood in the kitchen while Ginny brewed a cup of tea.

"I think she's still somewhat in shock. I mean, I'm the one who had to deliver the news and I still can't believe it."

The tea kettle whistled and Ginny lifted it off the stove and brought it to the table.

She poured them each a cup and stepped behind Harry's chair and gently started rubbing his shoulders.

"I never through this part of my job would hit so close to home, you know?"

Ginny sat in the chair across from him.

"All we can do is be there for her," she said.

"It's just, so unfair, you know?" Harry said. "It seems like she never can catch a break. She gets her life on track, and then all of the sudden its ripped from under her. For the past few years, if it wasn't one thing, it was another."

Ginny absently stirred her tea.

"Just between the two of us, off the record, exactly what do you think it was that happened?"

He shrugged. "That's the only thing that even seems possible. As far as I know, he didn't have any enemies. Any that were left anyway. And what about Daphne? I never knew her that well, but from what I did know of her, she was a nice girl. Never hurt anyone. Certainly not Death Eater material. That's what makes all of this so hard. There seem to be no leads to go on."

"But you said that you thought Draco had been getting closer and closer. Or was that just something that you were telling Hermione to make her feel a little better?"

He shook his head. "No. I still believe that. He did nothing but lock himself up in his office, as though he were onto something, and time after time I kept asking him what he'd uncovered and tried to help him, but he shrugged me off."

After a second, he slammed his hands down on the table, shattering the silence.

"Damnit! I should have _made _him tell me what he knew. What kind of supervisor does that make me?"

He paused. "Not to mention… what kind of friend does it make me?"

Hermione was laying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes, she opened them again hoping that she was going to wake up from a horrible nightmare.

But each time, the words Harry had said came haunting back at her.

"_There was nothing anyone could do. Draco's been… he's dead, Hermione." _

"_There was nothing anyone could do. Draco's been… he's dead, Hermione." _

_Dead. Dead. Dead. _

That one word seemed to keep repeating itself over and over again, as though it wanted to mock her.

It wasn't possible. There just wasn't any possible way that any of this could be real. There had to be a mistake. That was the only explanation that there could be.

And if there wasn't, she knew there was no way that she could face the truth. The fact that it was her fault. If what Harry had said was true, that the person who had murdered Daphne had gone after Draco as well, then it was her fault. She made him promise to find them. And he had. Giving up his own life in the process.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, as she let the tears fall. It wasn't until she heard a knock on the door that she stopped, frantically wiping the tears away from her face.

"Come in," she said, trying to make her voice sound as normal as possible.

The door creaked open and she was surprised to see that it was George Weasley who was standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, surprised to see him. While they had always been on friendly terms, she couldn't recall a time when the two of them had had a conversation, just the two of them.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, as though not to disturb her, he just sat there a minute before he started talking.

"I heard what happened."

She listened, but didn't bother looking at him. She didn't think that she'd be able to ever look at anyone again. She knew that if she did she would do nothing but cry. And she had to stop, before there were no tears left.

Undeterred, he continued to talk. "I'm probably the last person that you would expect to talk to you about this. But at the same time, I'm probably the best person to talk to about it."

"What is there to say?" she whispered, as she clenched the quilt cover in her hand, and then she released it and smoothed it out with her hand, and then repeated the process.

"Anything you want. I know you, Hermione. I have for ten years. I know that you have loads of feelings going on right now. And you need to get them out. It helps, I promise. You can cry, you can kick, or scream, do whatever you want. Yell at me. Scream at me. You can even kick me if you want. Because it'll make you feel better."

"But you didn't do anything."

"I know. But I also know how you feel. Maybe I didn't lose a spouse, but I lost a brother. A twin. We were closer than brothers. We started off as womb mates."

When he said that, he couldn't believe that the beginnings of a smile formed. Not much, but he could tell it was there. But as sudden as it had shown up, it was gone again.

Finally looking at him in the eye, she said, "But it's my fault. I made him promise to find them. And he was. Or maybe he did. But what does it matter now?"

"Hermione, it wasn't your fault. I can promise you that. In no way was this your fault."

"How do you know that?"

"Were the one who did this?"

She just stared at him blankly.

"Or what about this? If you had tried to keep him away from the case and trying to find out what had happened, would that have done any good?"

She shook her head, knowing he was right. She had told Draco she wanted him to find out who did it, but she knew, deep down, that even if she had never said it, he still would have made it a goal for himself.

"I'm not saying that your feelings are wrong. To be honest, it's a normal feeling. And if you _weren't _feeling that way, there would probably be something wrong. Because it's only natural to hope and wish and believe that if you could or would have done something differently, that the people you love would still be safe."

For a moment, neither said a word as they reflected on their own feelings.

"Because for awhile I blamed myself every day for Fred's death. I sat around and felt sorry for myself and wondered why it wasn't me instead."

Hermione found it hard to believe. The twins… they practically spelled out fun and humour. It was hard for her to see George being so serious. Or that there was even possibly a way that he could be feeling the same way that she was.

"Then I realized… was I doing anybody any good by feeling that way? No. All that I was accomplishing was letting him die in vain. So one morning, I made myself get up, walk in to the shop, and open it up. It wasn't easy. Especially since I could feel his presence everywhere in there. But the more that I did it, I felt better. It was something that he wanted. Maybe he wasn't there to share it with me, but I could at least make sure that the dream that we had lived on."

"But what does that have to do with me?" she asked.

"Everything. I'm not saying it has to happen right now. You need time. I'm just saying that you can't blame yourself."

He stood up and walked to the door.

"Just remember what I said," he told her, as he closed the door behind him.

She leaned back against the pillow and sighed. He was right. But it wasn't easy.


	23. Chapter 22

"Daddy?" Scorpius asked, shoveling some cereal in his mouth.

Hermione's heart caught, triggering another crying attack. She hadn't yet been able to find a way to tell Scorpius that his Daddy was not going to be coming home. Knowing that he needed her was really the only thing that had kept her going on these past few days.

Distractedly, she rubbed her stomach, again, for what seemed like the hundredth time. She couldn't quite put her finger on why it seemed so vaguely familiar. She knew that she had done it before, but she just couldn't remember when.

She was still lost in her thoughts when Ginny Apperated into the living room. Hermione was so lost in them that she didn't even notice that Ginny was there until she was sitting across from her and staring at her.

She jumped. "Ginny! When did you get here...and what are you doing here?"

Ginny tilted her head to the side and said," You honestly have to ask me that? I'm your best friend, you're in the middle of a - I don't even know what to call it, and you have to ask me why I'm here?"

Hermione nodded toward Scorpius who was oblivious to everything going on around him as he was trying to eat. "Don't talk about you-know-what. At least not in front of him. I haven't figured out how to tell him yet."

Suddenly, without warning, Scorpius turned toward the two of them and said, "Hi, Ginny!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her as if to say, "See what I mean?"

Ginny smiled warmly at him, forgetting how precocious he was. It was definitely easy to tell who his parents were, as if anyone had to wonder. While he had inherited Draco's hair, there was no doubt about that, he had definitely inherited his quick thinking from Hermione. On the other hand, however, Draco had always been quick-witted too. She, too, became lost in her own thoughts, thinking how things might have been, if only they had been different.

"I though I'd find you here," a new voice chimed into the room and all three of them turned to see Harry standing on the other side of the room.

"Doesn't anyone know how to knock anymore?" Hermione muttered, but offered a small smile at the same time.

"I just wanted to see how you were and how...things are going," Harry said, choosing his words carefully as he remembered that Scorpius was there.

Harry remembered the words that Draco had used that day, when he'd asked him why he'd chosen him to be his godfather.

"Why did you ask me to be Scorpius' godfather?"

"Because I knew you'd do a good job at it. And because I know I can trust you."

"Trust me to do what?"

"To do right by them."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just mean, you have to be one of the most self-less people that I know. Who would I rather ask to take care of my family if something happened to me?"

It was almost as though he had known. And now Harry knew that it was is time to step in and do what had been asked of him.

"Hawwy!" Scorpius called, running it into his arms.

"Hey, buddy. How are you doing?"

"Ceweal?," he offered, gesturing toward the box on the table.

"That's fine, little man. I already ate."

Scorpius puffed his bottom lip out a little, just the way both his mother and father both did. Just another reason that, even though no one would ever had admitted it, that they were perfect for each other.

While Harry entertained Scorpius, Ginny gave Hermione a warm smile and covered her hand with her own. "Harry's entertaining him, Hermione. It's alright, you don't have to pretend."

Hermione smiled at her with the smile that she had been faking ever since it had happened. "Who's pretending?"

"Look at me, Hermione Malfoy. You know damn well what I'm talking about, and I'm not going to stand for it. Harry and I are here to help you. But we can only help you if you'll let us."

Hermione's gaze drifted over to Scorpius, where he was having a grand time on the toy broomstick that Harry had for him. Again, Hermione's heart pulled as she knew that Draco should be the one who was here, doing this with Scorpius.

Without thinking, she wiped a tear away from her eye, and fought back the sob that was coming out of her throat.

Gingerly, Ginny placed he hand on Hermione's shoulder. "It's alright, Hermione. Let it out. It will make you feel better."

Hermione gave Ginny a sad smile and Ginny could see the tears glistening in her eyes. "Why, Ginny? Why did it have to happen? Who could... Why would they want to..."

She couldn't hold it back any longer and her entire body heaved as she began sobbing. Luckily, Scorpius wasn't paying attention and had no idea what was going on. Harry, however, heard and looked in their direction. Ginny gestured toward outside with her head, hoping that Harry would get the hint.

Once he had taken Scorpius outside, Ginny turned back to Hermione once again and tried to look warm and comforting, even though she had next to no idea what to say or do. These kinds of situations had never been easy for her, and it was even harder when it was someone that she knew.

"Have you eaten yet today?" she asked, remembering Scorpius's words.

Hermione shook her head. "No. I haven't felt like eating. It just... nothing feels right anymore. To be honest? That little boy out there," she nodded toward the window where Scorpius was laughing as he flew around the ground, with Harry keeping his eye on him, "is what has been keeping me going on. That's the only thing."

"What about your parents?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged, staring at the wall in front of her. "There isn't much that they can say, is there? They wanted to come. They told me that they wanted to be here for me, but I told them that they didn't have to. After all, they've already taken enough time from work when they came before. They'll be coming for the funeral…. I think they wanted Scorpius to come and live with them for awhile, but I couldn't' do that. He has magic in his blood - more than I have, for that matter, and what kind of mother would I be to try and take that away from him? I know they wouldn't keep it away from him, but I'm his mother. I need him with me. Just like he needs me."

"I just..." she started, but before she could finish, she jumped up from the table suddenly and rushed from the room, with Ginny on her heels. She barely made it to the bathroom in time, and Ginny was concerned.

"What's...are you alright?"

After a moment or so, Hermione lifted herself up slowly and nodded. "I am. It's just the stress and...everything. I still have to make arrangements, you know. I haven't done those yet. I just can't seem to bring myself to admit that he's..." she trailed off again, to be met by another heaving attack.

By now, Ginny was more than slightly concerned. "Has this been happening long?" she wondered.

Hermione shook her head slightly, as though she was trying to remember. "Off and on. But lately there has been so much going on that...what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

But Ginny didn't seem to hear her. She was out of the room and outside before Hermione caught up with her.

"Harry?" she called across the front lawn.

He turned slightly so that he could see her, but with one eye still on Scorpius. "What's up?"

"Do you think that you could keep an eye on Scorpius for awhile longer? Hermione and I have an...errand we need to run quickly."

Harry merely nodded and turned his attention back to Scorpius, knowing that it was best that he not interfere when Ginny really got going.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked as she made it out the front door.

"You're coming with me," Ginny said, grabbing Hermione's hand and Apperating them away.

"What are you doing? Haven't I... haven't we all been through enough to be dragging me across the countryside? And what were you thinking, just leaving Harry in charge of Scorpius? Keeping an eye on him when I'm there, he's fine. When Draco...was there...it was fine. But by himself?"

"Relax. Take deep breaths," Ginny told her. "See? You'll feel better."

"You still haven't answered my question."

Ginny pointed at the sign above the doorway that they had arrived at.

Hermione stared at her, in a cross between complete outrage and pure bewilderment. How could you think that I need..."

Ginny smirked. "Regardless of what my brothers have been telling you for years, I'm not as dumb as I...I mean, as dumb as they think I am. I saw the signs. I have a way of knowing. Besides," she trailed off mysteriously, "I was right about myself."

Suddenly, with the look on Ginny's face, the sign above the door and the way she was carrying on, Hermione had a feeling she knew what she was talking about.

"Ginny, you and Harry aren't... are you?"

"Mmm hmm," she said with a dreamy expression on her face. " I didn't want to say anything, because it seemed like a really bad time, and after all, not only that, but do you have any idea how Ron will react?"

For the first time since everything had happened, Hermione was able to give out a true smile.

"Ginny. I'm so happy for you. And for Harry both." She tilted her head and looked at her. "Harry does know, doesn't he?"

Now it was Ginny's turn to blush. "Um, well, you see... not yet..."

"Ginevra Weasley! I can't believe you. I mean, I can actually... but still, when are you planning on telling him?"

Ginny was the one who cocked her head to the side this time. "Well, now that things are, at least the way that I think they are, you can tell him for me."

"I wish you would stop talking nonsense and explain exactly what you mean. I can't believe that you are trying to pull all of this on me."

"Hermione, dear, what I'm trying to tell you is that you're pregnant."

"Shut up!" Hermione said, staring at her. What was Ginny trying to pull? Hadn't she been through enough already?

"Deny it all you want, Hermione, but if you remember, I was there the first time. I had to point it out to you then, and that was before, well, this," she said, pointing at her own stomach.

"But how can I be... I mean... I can't be... can I?"

"Hermione, must you honestly ask me how you can be pregnant? You should know the answer to that yourself. See, what happens is, a witch and a wizard tell each other that they love each other. Then he kisses her, and she kisses him back... then a little of this and little of that... and we have...you," she said, gesturing toward Hermione's stomach.

Reflexively, Hermione wrapped her arms around her stomach. Could she be? Was it even possible? Had that been the gnawing feeling that she had had earlier and couldn't put her finger on it?

There is no telling how long she would have stayed standing there if Ginny hadn't grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the doorway, which turned out to be a muggle pharmacy shop.

"A pharmacy shop? Why are we here? Can't we just do what we did the last time?"

"We can... but you can see where that got us." She did have a point, Hermione thought.

"And how did you find out about a muggle pharmacy in the first place? Hasn't your family always gone to healers for these kinds of things?"

Once again, Ginny just gave Hermione a look.

"Do you honestly think that if I had gone to see a healer that no one in my family would have found out? With a family the size of ours, there is always something getting leaked out. So I did a little research and found this place."

By now, Hermione was tired of all of this and just wanted to go home and be with Scorpius. She had too much on her mind to be worried about petty little things.

Ginny seemed to sense the apprehension in Hermione's face and told her, "This won't take long, I promise. Give me about ten minutes to get it and we can be back."

Knowing it would do no good to argue, Hermione gave in. Besides, those few moments would give her some time to think.

She stared into the sky, waiting for Ginny to return and for the first time since it happened, she let the tears flow.

"Why did this have to happen to us, Draco? Why? After all those years, things finally... we were happy."

"Got it!" Ginny yelled, running back to Hermione.

Hermione frowned. "Don't you know better than to run when you're..."

Ginny waved her hand nonchalantly. "Oh pish posh. That's old stuff. It's fine."

"If you say so," Hermione said. "Enjoy it now. Once Harry finds out..."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Didn't you hear anything that I said earlier? Besides, with my brothers? Harry's the least of my worries."

Together, they Apperated back to Hermione's and to Hermione's relief, she could tell that Scorpius was unharmed.

She rushed to Scorpius and grabbed him in a hug.

He pushed her back, trying to act like a big boy. "No, Mommy!"

"But I missed you, baby."

However, that was over Scorpius's head and he went back to playing whatever it was that Harry had taught him.

"So where did the two of you go?" Harry asked, finally realising that they were back.

"Just to get some things," Ginny said. Noticing that Hermione wasn't really paying any attention, she leaned into Harry, "I was trying to get her mind off things. She really needs it, you know. So far, the shock really hasn't worn off yet, but once it does, it isn't going to be pretty. We're going to have to be here for her, even more than we have been. She's going to need us, and Scorpius is going to need us, too."

Harry's eyes were on the small boy now, running around the yard, letting the robes he was wearing fly around his body. It was amazing how much he looked like Draco, but didn't act anything near like him. Or at least, anything like the boy that Harry had first met.


	24. Chapter 23

"What are you doing? Haven't I... haven't we all been through enough to be dragging me across the countryside? And what were you thinking, just leaving Harry in charge of Scorpius? Keeping an eye on him when I'm there, he's fine. When Draco...was there...it was fine. But by himself?"

"Relax. Take deep breaths," Ginny told her. "See? You'll feel better."

"You still haven't answered my question."

Ginny pointed at the sign above the doorway that they had arrived at.

Hermione stared at her, in a cross between complete outrage and pure bewilderment. How could you think that I need..."

Ginny smirked. "Regardless of what my brothers have been telling you for years, I'm not as dumb as I...I mean, as dumb as they think I am. I saw the signs. I have a way of knowing. Besides," she trailed off mysteriously, "I was right about myself."

Suddenly, with the look on Ginny's face, the sign above the door and the way she was carrying on, Hermione had a feeling she knew what she was talking about.

"Ginny, you and Harry aren't... are you?"

"Mmm hmm," she said with a dreamy expression on her face. " I didn't want to say anything, because it seemed like a really bad time, and after all, not only that, but do you have any idea how Ron will react?"

For the first time since everything had happened, Hermione was able to give out a true smile.

"Ginny. I'm so happy for you. And for Harry both." She tilted her head and looked at her. "Harry does know, doesn't he?"

Now it was Ginny's turn to blush. "Um, well, you see... not yet..."

"Ginerva Weasley! I can't believe you. I mean, I can actually... but still, when are you planning on telling him?"

Ginny was the one who cocked her head to the side this time. "Well, now that things are, at least the way that I think they are, you can tell him for me."

"I wish you would stop talking nonsense and explain exactly what you mean. I can't believe that you are trying to pull all of this on me."

"Hermione, dear, what I'm trying to tell you is that you're pregnant."

"Shut up!" Hermione said, staring at her. What was Ginny trying to pull? Hadn't she been through enough already?

"Deny it all you want, Hermione, but if you remember, I was there the first time. I had to point it out to you then, and that was before, well, this," she said, pointing at her own stomach.

"But how can I be... I mean... I can't be... can I?"

"Hermione, must you honestly ask me how you can be pregnant? You should know the answer to that yourself. See, what happens is, a witch and a wizard tell each other that they love each other. Then he kisses her, and she kisses him back... then a little of this and little of that... and we have...you," she said, gesturing toward Hermione's stomach.

Reflexively, Hermione wrapped her arms around her stomach. Could she be? Was it even possible? Had that been the gnawing feeling that she had had earlier and couldn't put her finger on it?

There is no telling how long she would have stayed standing there if Ginny hadn't grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the doorway, which turned out to be a muggle pharmacy shop.

"A pharmacy shop? Why are we here? Can't we just do what we did the last time?"

"We can... but you can see where that got us." She did have a point, Hermione thought.

"And how did you find out about a muggle pharmacy in the first place? Hasn't your family always gone to healers for these kinds of things?"

Once again, Ginny just gave Hermione a _look_.

"Do you honestly think that if I had gone to see a healer that no one in my family would have found out? With a family the size of ours, there is always something getting leaked out. So I did a little research and found this place."

By now, Hermione was tired of all of this and just wanted to go home and be with Scorpius. She had too much on her mind to be worried about petty little things.

Ginny seemed to sense the apprehension in Hermione's face and told her, "This won't take long, I promise. Give me about ten minutes to get it and we can be back."

Knowing it would do no good to argue, Hermione gave in. Besides, those few moments would give her some time to think.

She stared into the sky, waiting for Ginny to return and for the first time since it happened, she let the tears flow.

"_Why did this have to happen to us, Draco? Why? After all those years, things finally... we were happy."_

"Got it!" Ginny yelled, running back to Hermione.

Hermione frowned. "Don't you know better than to run when you're..."

Ginny waved her hand nonchalantly. "Oh pish posh. That's old stuff. It's fine."

"If you say so," Hermione said. "Enjoy it now. Once Harry finds out..."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Didn't you hear anything that I said earlier? Besides, with my brothers? Harry's the least of my worries."

Together, they Apperated back to Hermione's and to Hermione's relief, she could tell that Scorpius was unharmed.

She rushed to Scorpius and grabbed him in a hug.

He pushed her back, trying to act like a big boy. "No, Mommy!"

"But I missed you, baby."

However, that was over Scorpius's head and he went back to playing whatever it was that Harry had taught him.

"So where did the two of you go?" Harry asked, finally realising that they were back.

"Just to get some things," Ginny said. Noticing that Hermione wasn't really paying any attention, she leaned into Harry, "I was trying to get her mind off things. She really needs it, you know. So far, the shock really hasn't worn off yet, but once it does, it isn't going to be pretty. We're going to have to be here for her, even more than we have been. She's going to need us, and Scorpius is going to need us, too."

Harry's eyes were on the small boy now, running around the yard, letting the robes he was wearing fly around his body. It was amazing how much he looked like Draco, but didn't act anything near like him. Or at least, anything like the boy that Harry had first met.

*Flashback*

"_Harry?" _

_Jolted out of sleep, Harry forced himself to wake up, to see who was talking to him and why. _

_Then the hand moved in to shake him on the shoulder._

"_Harry!" _

"_Hmm?"_

"_Are you awake or not?" _

"_I'm awake, I'm awake," he said, trying to focus. _

"_Good. I thought you might like to meet the world's newest Malfoy." _

_Harry had never been around many babies, in fact, there was only one that came to mind, and it wasn't the most pleasant experience, so bad in fact that he tried to block it out, but the words screaming and bad smells pretty much summed up his feelings. However, there was something about this baby, who just seemed to be different, if that made any sense at all. Then again, with Hermione being his mother, the baby would probably be walking and talking, as well as being potty-trained, by six months. _

_*_End of Flashback*

"Harry?" Ginny said, pulling him back to the present.

"Yeah?"

"I think… it's probably time for Scorpius' nap," she said, ignoring the look of disgust that Scorpius gave her. "We should probably be heading home ourselves, at least for awhile. Hermione will let us know if there is anything she needs, right?" The last part coming out as more of a statement than a question.

Hermione nodded, knowing that was Ginny's way of saying she wanted to be the first to know, once Hermione found out for herself. If she could make herself find out.

_What if we're wrong? _she thought. The idea of having another baby… that there was something left for her that Draco had left behind had made her mind start spinning, and now, she realized that her hands were shaking. What if the test was negative? What would she do? But then, what would she do if it were positive?


	25. Chapter 24

That morning hadn't started off well, and Hermione was sure that the rest of the day, as well as the days following it, were going to be worse. At least these past few days she had had something to keep her mind off of everything that was going on, even though, ironically it had been spent planning Draco's funeral, which was something that she would not have wanted to wish on her worst enemy. Hermione took in a deep breath as she looked into the mirror and smoothed her dress. When she reached her stomach, she slowed down, protectively running her hand across her abdomen. It made her feel happy and sad all at the same time. It was the best feeling in the world, knowing that she was carrying new life inside her, but at the same time, it was the worst, knowing that this time, Draco wouldn't be there to share in it with her.

"I love you, Draco," she whispered. Had she ever made sure that he knew that? Did he truly know that she cared? The thought made her sad as she remembered some of the things that he had told her about his own childhood and how much he had lit up, both inside and out when Scorpius had been born.

_Draco held the newborn Scorpius in his arms, cradling him so protectively, that if one didn't know better, they would have sworn there was no way that that could have been THE Draco Malfoy. After all, everyone knew that Draco didn't have a kind bone in his body...did he?_

_Tired and groggy from the birth, Hermione watched from her bed as Draco began bonding with their son, and it pulled at her heart watching this - noting such a change that had come over him in such a short amount of time_.

Maybe people really can change, she thought, remembering all of the times that she had told him that there was no way a Malfoy could change, not even him. it looked like she was about to have ot eat her words.

"I love you too, Hermione. I always will. I never doubted that you loved me. I could see it in your eyes everyday, as well as feel it in your heart."

She turned around sharply, trying to figure out where that had come from. Was she hallucinating? Or had she really heard Draco talking to her?

"Draco? Is that you?" she asked, feeling stupid, but knowing that she had to ask.

"Yes, my love. It's me. I can't stay long, but I needed to see you, one last time."

Frantically, she looked around the room until her eyes fell on the wedding photo of the two of them on the stand by the bed, and there he was, looking as handsome as ever, smiling at her.

"Why haven't you come to me before now? I need you!"

"Shh," he said. "I think this is the reason I wasn't supposed to come, but I had to. You are smart, and brave, and most of all, beautiful, Hermione Malfoy." Her throat felt tight as she could feel tears threatening to spill, with hearing him call her that.

"Why...why did they do this to us?" she asked, trying to hold her sobs back, without success.

"Things happen a way that that they are supposed to. I was brought to you. You...you made my life better, Hermione. Though our time together was short, it was the best times of my life. I would do it all over again, knowing that you were there waiting for me."

"But we need you, Draco," she tried to insist, knowing that it was futile arguing with him. "Scorpius needs you. I need you. We're going to..."

He smiled. "I know, Hermione. We're having another baby. All I ask is... tell them about me? Let them know that I love them... that I will always love them."

By now, Hermione couldn't control the tears that were running down her face.

"Don't cry, love. I'll always be with you, in your heart. Your friends...Ginny and H..Harry, they will help you. Harry is a good man, Hermione. I don't know if I ever told you that, and I want you to let him know that. I want you to...to promise me that you will try to love again. I don't want you to be sad. Or alone. You're too smart and beautiful for that."

She stared out from her tears and tried to take in the sight of him, before he was gone once again.

"I have to go now, Hermione," he whispered, once last time. "Don't forget...I love you." And he was gone, as quickly as he had come in.

Ginny and Harry smiled warmly at her, and she took in how nice they looked, Ginny in her black dress that accented her hair nicely, as well as was still able to do a nice job of concealing her stomach, which, like Hermione's, was still a secret. Harry looked quite dashing next to her, in a conservative set of dress robes, that if only the situation was different, would have been a wonderful opportunity to share that knowledge.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked gently, as they reached the front door.

"I have to be, don't I?" she asked, taking in deep breaths. "Where's Scorpius?" she asked, looking around frantically.

"Are you sure you want him to go?" Ginny asked. "Mum said she would be happy to watch him for you."

Hermione shook her head. "No. He may not understand all of what is going on, but I don't want him to miss it. What if he never forgave me for it?" she said, starting to cry.

"Shhh," Harry said gently, wrapping her in his arms. "He'll be fine. It's you that I'm worried about."

She wiped her eyes. "I'll be fine. I have to be. I have to be strong for him. I can't..."

She trailed off as another sob attack hit her and Harry rubbed her back gently. "We're here for you. Remember that. All of us," he directed that last part towards Ron, who merely nodded.

Scorpius, who was dressed as dashingly as Harry, only in much smaller form, was playing with his stuffed Hippogriff in the living room.

"Scorpius," Ginny called. "We're ready. You can bring Beaky with you," she added, referring to the stuffed Hippogriff.

As they walked out the front door, a thought suddenly hit Hermione.

"How are we getting..." be her words were cut off as she looked at a sleep black car waiting in the front.

"Ministry cars..." she whispered with the tears coming back. She felt like she'd never cried so much in her entire life. She figured it was expected of her, though.

Ginny pulled her to the side and whispered, "The car...that was um, Ron's idea. He said, he well, he wanted to do something nice for you." Hermione started to protest, but Ginny shushed her. "Let him. He hasn't been sure of what to say to you in ages. Don't give me that look. I'm not suggestion anything. I am not!" she said, which Hermione wasn't sure if she was trying to convince her or herself.

"All I'm trying to say is just… let it go."

They had reached the car by now and they all climbed in.

"It's a limy-sine," Ron said, just a tad bit excitedly, as he stood next to the cars. No matter how much he had become exposed to cars, he was never ceased to be amazed at the way that they all looked.

"No," Scorpius said with disdain.

"It's a booster seat, buddy," Harry said, trying to lift Scorpius into the seat. "You have to ride in it, whether you want to or not."

Never had a child had such a horrible look on his face.

"Look… Rose is sitting in her seat. You can sit beside her and show her Beaky."

"No," he repeated, closing his eyes and, Hermione was ashamed to admit, stuck out his tongue.

Desperate, Harry said, "If you'd get in the seat, I'll give you a piece of candy."

Once Scorpius was in his seat and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were seated the car sped off toward the church.

They were all quiet the entire ride, except for Scorpius who was happily munching on the candy that Harry had given him and making his Beaky fly and talking for him.

That was when the car came to a stop at the curb of the church and the door was opened for them.


	26. Chapter 25

The church was filled completely by the time that they had arrived. Scorpius seemed to be in awe of all of the people that were around and, in true Malfoy fashion, seemed to think that it was all about him. Harry did his best to try to keep the young boy focused on the stuffed Hippogriff that he was still holding, hoping that maybe there was a way that he could charm it so that it would fly around for him. Then realized that if he did, it wouldn't only be Scorpius who would be able to see it.

They passed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley on the way in and Mrs. Weasley whispered, "Do you want us to keep an eye on him for you?"

Hermione shook her head, afraid of the tears that were already threatening to fall. It seemed so strange that even after all of this time, Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley too for that matter, seemed to think of her as one of the family.

She walked in slowly, sliding to the end of the pew, followed by Harry and Ginny, while Ron had Rose and chose to sit with his parents and George, Bill, Fleur and baby Victoire, Percy and his wife Audrey and Charlie.

It felt so strange for her to be here, she was only twenty years old for goodness sake, she shouldn't have to already be a widow. It just felt so unfair.

It made her even sadder to know that Draco had no family besides she, and Scorpius and the new baby that was on the way to mourn for him. In fact, it didn't seem like he even had any friends that would care, if any of them were still around.

"Today, we are were to remember the life of one, Draco Lucius Malfoy, who left from us this earth too soon," began the High Wizard as the service began.

Upon the alter, there stood the casket, but Hermione couldn't bear to look. It was hard enough for her to be in there, listening, but she just couldn't let herself believe that he was in there, that he was really and truly gone.

It a bit ironic that, with the ways that things were set up in the Wizarding World, that Draco Malfoy, who was once the most prejudiced Pureblood there was (after his father, of course), would be having a funeral and a memorial service, Muggle style. However, it was something that he wanted and that he had even mentioned to Hermione in passing once, not to long ago, and now she wondered if it he had somehow known what was going to happen.

*Flashback*

"_What are they doing?" he had asked curiously as the television, which he had insisted on having, because it reminded him in ways of how he and Hermione had gotten together, and besides, he didn't think that he would be able to get past his need to watch DVDs. On the television, there was suddenly a brief news interruption and it stated that the previously scheduled program would be interrupted for a special news cast._

"_Sometimes this happens when there is something that they need to tell people, and that if they didn't put it on these channels, no one would watch, even though it is something that they need to know. Or well, at least that last bit is part of my opinion."_

_Draco nodded slightly, a bit confused by what she just said, but tried his best to pretend that he knew what she was talking about._

_It showed a long, sleek black car pulling up beside a Muggle church and people were getting out of it, as they were all dressed in black and many were wearing dark sunglasses._

"_What are they doing?" he asked again, but this time referring to the people that were on the television. He hated to repeat himself, but there were so many new things that he was learning, that he couldn't help but be intrigued. At times, he felt as though he must be living in an alternate universe._

"_It's...it's a funeral for the Princess of Sheffield. I remember hearing something about it earlier this week. I don't remember all of the details, but usually when something major like this happens, they put It on the television so that people can watch it."_

"_Why would people want to watch something as depressing as a funeral?"_

"_It's not exactly designed to be like that. It's a way for the public to be able to say goodbye to those that they admired."_

"_If you say so," he said, but was intrigued none the less. Not necessarily by the fact that there was a funeral, or the fact that it was a Muggle funeral, but the way that it seemed to happen. The only funerals Draco had attended in his life were those of his Grandfather who had died of Dragonpox and then later of his parents, however the double funeral that was held for his parents was more in the fashion of being a memorial service, with everything that had been going on at the time._

_The more that he watched of all of the people who seemed to be in attendance, and everything that everyone had nice to say, the intrigued that he became._

"_When I die," he said, "I want to have that."_

"_Have what? What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, puzzled._

"_To be remembered that way. A long precession and people saying nice things about you. Though there probably aren't many that would say anything nice about me."_

_He looked kind of far away for a moment and then said, "I want to be remembered for the way I am now, not how I used to be."_

"_Draco, what are you talking about?"_

"_You never think about death, Hermione? Or what lies there for you afterward? Or how people will remember you?"_

"_Well, no. I mean, when I was younger, my parents took me to church, and we learned that we needed to be good and do what we were told so that we'd be able to go to Heaven. The later, I learned that, here, in our world, it is a bit more complicated than that. So I just pretty much put it out of my mind. After all, death isn't really something that I like to think about all that much."_

"_What is it like, in the muggle world?" he asked suddenly, the almost immediately wondered why he had asked._

"_What is what like?" she asked._

"_Church, believing, the afterlife. It's something that I have heard of, of course, but not anything that I had ever really learned about, you know."_

"_It's not really something that I can just sit here and explain, Draco. It's more of something that has to be shown to you."_

"_Could you show it to me then?"_

"_What has gotten into you?" she asked, more confused than ever. She knew that by now she should be used to some of the things that he came up with to ask, but ever so often, at a time like this, he stumped her._

"_What is it you want me to show you?" she asked._

"_Nothing has "gotten into me" as you put it. I just... there are so many things that I don't know about, and there are times that I really wish that I did. Like that, what we just saw," he said, pointing at the television screen, "I never knew about that, and probably never would have known. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I want to turn in the old wand and become a muggle. But I don't really supposed that it would hurt to at least be knowledgeable about it, right?"_

"_Well, I mean, I don't know. After all, I just..."_

"_I guess it would be hard for you to understand. I mean, you're muggle-born, you learned all about the muggle world from birth, and then learned about the wizarding world. In my case, that's the only world that I know about. Remember that time when I told you I'd been sheltered?"_

"_Yeah," she said, remembering how idiotic she had thought that had sounded._

"_That was kind of what I meant by it."_

*End of Flashback*

"Is there anyone who would like to say a few words about the dearly departed?" asked the wizard, pulling Hermione back into the present.

There seemed to be a loud quiet as it seemed as though everyone was looking around, trying to see who it was that was going to be the first person to say something.

Harry, who was sitting to Hermione's left, finally stood up, and there was a loud gasp, as though no one could understand why Harry, of all people, would want to be the one to say something.

"I'm here today," he began, "because Draco Malfoy was a person. Maybe not the nicest person at times, but he was indeed a person. As I'm sure most of you know, we definitely didn't see eye to eye on many things. Then the war happened. I had plenty of chances to say the hell with it and not worry about what was going to happen to him. After all, he didn't care what happened to me, right? Then things started to change when Narcissa Malfoy decided to spare my life. I can't say she did it completely unselfishly, but I'm not going to complain that because of what she did, I was able to live. After that, when I had the chance to save Draco, I did. Was it because his mother had saved me? Partly. Was it because I knew that he wasn't a truly bad person? Yes. I also did it because he was a person. A person who didn't deserve to die to an end like that. Not then, and he didn't deserve what happened to him now."

He stood standing for a moment, and then awkwardly sat back down.

Again, there was silence as it seemed that everyone wanted to hear someone else speak, but no one was actually ready to speak themselves. Finally, Hermione herself stood up.

Taking a deep breath, she began to speak. "Draco and I had had the most interesting relationship, if you could call it that. When we first met, we literally detested each other. It seemed each year as though the disdain for each other grew more and more. Until our last year at school, when he became Head Boy and I became Head Girl. That was also right after the war was over and he kept telling me that he had changed, Harry here told me that he had changed, but I didn't want to believe it. I tried everything to try to find the bad in him and claimed that there was no way that he ever could have changed."

She paused for a moment, fighting back tears, but continued on, as the memories some of the horrible, awful things that she had said to him filled her mind.

"He was a wonderful husband to me, and an even better father. Every time that I look at Scorpius, I see Draco in him, and can see the way that Draco taught him, even in his young life, the way that he should be. He once told me that he wanted to be remembered for the way that he could be, rather than the way that he had been. And I find that only fitting today, to share that with all of you. Understand that, he didn't have the easiest of a life. I never wanted to admit that, or even care about it. But now I know that it is true."

She sat back down and Harry and Ginny each put their arm around her.

No one else made a move to stand up and after a few moments, the Wizard resumed his place at the front and opened his mouth to speak when a new voice spoke up.

"I have a few things that I would like to say."


	27. Chapter 26

Everyone turned and looked to see Minerva McGonagall stand up where she was sitting. She walked carefully up to the front of the church where she stood in front of everyone.

"For those of you who don't know me, my name is Minerva McGonagall, former Headmistress of and Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." There was a pause as she allowed her eyes to scan across the different people who were seated throughout the church.

"The moment that Draco Malfoy first set foot at Hogwarts, I could see his parents all over again, as well as grandparents, aunts, uncles, you name it. And for his first few years, that was the way that it happened. Then all of the sudden, something changed. I was never so surprised one night when, after hours, he came to seek me out, telling me how urgent it was that he speak to me. At first, I thought it be odd, after all, I was one of his Professors, of course, and for that he showed respect, but there were certain things that we had never quite seen eye to eye on. There was just something however about that evening that I knew it was imperative that I listen to what he have to say, and I was very glad that I did."

*Flashback*

"_Malfoy? What in Merlin's name are you doing here at this time of night?"_

"_Professor, I need a favour. I hate to bother you like this, but I think that you're the only one who can help me right now."_

_Professor McGonagall was startled, after all, she had had very few positive run-ins with Draco Malfoy over the past few years, but there was something about the urgency in his voice that made her realize she wanted to listen to what it was that he had to say. _

"_Very well, Mr. Malfoy. Come in," she said, closing the door. _

_He stood at the entrance to her chambers, unsure of exactly how to begin with what he was sure was going to be a very awkward conversation. _

"_Well, Mr Malfoy, do sit down and tell me what the meaning of getting me out of bed at this time of night is all about." _

"_This is a very… strange request, I'm sure, Professor."_

_Professor McGonagall merely lifted an eyebrow as she waited for him to continue. While she that it was part of her job description to be there for the students, there were sometimes, like these, that she wished it wasn't. She also wished that it wouldn't be extremely un-professor-like to ask him to get on with it. _

"_Professor, before I ask you for the favour, I think that there is something that you should know." _

"_Oh?"_

_He nodded. "Hermione Granger is… well, she and I… oh, bloody hell, Professor. Sorry," he said, realizing that who he was talking to. "She's pregnant, and it's all my fault." _

"_Could you, repeat that, Mr Malfoy?"_

"_Hermione Granger, she's pregnant. It's my fault, please don't blame her. She's… she's had enough to go through. If you're going to suspend or expel or anything to anybody because of it, it needs to be me."_

"_I'm slightly confused, Mr Malfoy. You told me that you needed a favour, and yet so far all that you've done is told me about the consequences of… unacceptable actions by students, on school premises."_

_He sighed. "But that's where the favour comes in. You see, I want to make it right for her. I don't want to be like that Weas-," he stopped himself before he said too much. "Professor, I'm asking for your permission to leave the school for a few days, to take care of some business to have a place for her to go. Because, Professor, I want to… I want to ask her to marry me." _

_*_End of Flashback*

"I knew at that moment that a transformation had been made in front of my eyes. I'll be honest, I couldn't believe that it was the same person standing in front of me, confessing all of this that had been the same youngster all those years before who had stood before me."

*Flashback*

"_Excuse me, Professor, but perhaps I misunderstood you. I thought you just said the __**four **__of us."_

"_You heard correctly, Mr Malfoy. Despite your good… intentions, there are still no excuses for you to be out of your dormitory, wandering the halls after hours."_

*End of Flashback*

"It was then that I knew, anything was possible. That there are things out there that are beyond our control, but that doesn't mean that everything is black and white. What I want to leave you with here today is just to remember this. Always give a person the benefit of the doubt, because you never know what actions or events will change them."

With that, she walked back to her seat.

Once again, the wizard made his way back up to the podium and opened his mouth to speak, when once again there, there was a bit of scuffling around as someone else stood up.

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the noise, and it was hard to realize who was the most surprised when they realized who it was.

Gregory Goyle stood up nervously, and adjusted his collar as though he was too tight. He shuffled his feet, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"I almost didn't come today," he said. "To be fairly honest, I figured I probably couldn't even get in, that there would be a hex set up at the door to keep me out. But I wanted to be here because Draco _was _my best friend. At least at one time."

Harry was surprised at the sound of sentiment that seemed to come from him. He had to think about it for a minute, but was pretty sure that he had never actually heard Goyle speak, at least like a regular person.

_Hmm, _he thought to himself, _maybe Draco wasn't the only person who changed for the better. _

"Our friendship didn't start off in the most conventional of ways. After all, it was our fathers who had been friends, and their fathers before them, and so we were sort of expected to be friends. Not that I ever regretted being his friend. Some people often thought that the only reason Draco kept Vince and me around was because we were bigger than he was and that if anybody tried anything, we'd step in for him. Which was partly true, I guess. But regardless, he was the one person who actually treated us like we were people."

Harry thought back to second year when he and Ron had impersonated them with poly juice potion. There were moments when Draco seemed to think that they were less than he was, but there were a few moments that he did seem to really care about them.

His mind was also drifted to that unfortunate moment in the Room of Requirement, a memory that he always tried to rid himself of, but no matter how hard he tried, it kept coming back. That moment when Vincent Crabbe's fiendfyre had gotten out of control, almost killing all of them, and ultimately taking Crabbe's life. He remembered the look of horror on Draco's face, when he asked about Crabbe. When Ron had told him, rather unemotionally, Harry remembered, it was the second time he'd ever seen Draco cry - the first time being in the boy's bathroom that time in sixth year.

Goyle's voice brought him back to the present.

"When Draco talked about coming back here to re-do his seventh year, I thought he'd gone mental. Why? What good was it going to do? I asked him, knowing that no one would ever take any of us seriously ever again. But he was determined. Something about how he was different than his father and wanted to make sure that people knew it."

He paused a moment to take a handkerchief out of his pocket and he blew his nose.

"I'm ashamed to admit that after our conversation about that was the last time that I had ever seen him. That pretty much summed up our parting of ways, when he decided to go back and I set out to make my way in the real world, so to speak, the best way that I knew how."

He walked back to the back of the church, where he'd been sitting before, stumbling a few times along the way.

The Wizard approached the front once again, this time waiting to see if anyone else was going to say anything before he started talking once again.

"If there is no one else who wishes to come forward, then this part of our service is concluded and we will begin heading outside for the burial."

Harry was aware that there was movement all around him as the others who had been in the church started making their way outside, but he was concentrating on Hermione. She sat there, her head buried in her hands as everyone around them started drifting away.

"Hermione?" he said gently. "We need to go outside."

She just shook her head.

"I can't," she whispered. "I just can't."

"Why not?" he asked gently.

""Because, if I go out there, it's like saying he's really and truly dead. I just can't… I can't face it, Harry."

Ginny looked at the two of them as she stood up, waiting to walk with the two of them. Seeing the look on Hermione's face, she sat right back down.

"We'll be with you, Hermione. We'll always be here for you."

Moving her hands away from her face, Hermione forced a small smile on her face as she looked at the two of them.

She nodded slowly. "You're right. I have to do it. If not for me, then for Scorpius."Ginny gave her a look, telling her that she knew. Even though Hermione had yet to say anything about the forthcoming baby, she knew. In fact, she knew the first time, and she knew this time. Then the thought that she'd never get a chance to know again made Hermione start crying again.

She took a deep breath and stood up. "I'm ready," she said.

And the three of them headed out the side door into the church cemetery.


	28. Chapter 27

"You should sit down, Hermione," Ginny said, once they had all gotten back to her house.

She sat down, and knew that she should at least attempt to say something, anything, to all of the people who were now in her home, that had been nice enough o come to the funeral.

Ginny sat down beside her, and patted her hand. "You never did tell me the results of the test. But it was positive, wasn't it?"

She nodded. It still all felt like a dream, more like a horrible nightmare.

"It's so unfair, you know? I mean this would have been our chance, to really, to actually have done things in the right order! And now… I just don't even know what to do."

"Harry and I will be here for you, Hermione, just like always. And… I told him. He knows."

"He does? What did he say?"

Ginny relaxed. She wasn't sure what all she should say in front of Hermione, but at this point, she knew that anything she could say that detoured around the subject of Draco and/or death was a good one to go on.

"Before, or after he calmed down?"

"Everything. I want to know everything."

"EVerything about what?" Harry asked, walking up on them at just that moment.

"Ginny told me your news, Harry," Hermione said, trying to pull it off that she hadn't known before. "I'm really happy for you guys."

"It was definitely not something that I would have expected," Harry said. "But regardless, I'm happy about it."

"Babies are wonderful," Hermione said, thoughtfully.

Ginny gave her a slight nudge on the shoulder, so slight that it was barely noticeable. But she knew that it was Ginny's way of asking Hermione if she was ready to tell anyone else her own news.

"I'm… I'm having one, too," she said.

"You're having a what?" Harry said, still somewhat clueless.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "A baby, Harry. She's having a _baby. _What did you think she was going to have? Puppies?"

He sighed. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am, you know. There is just so much going on that it's not really something that I'm putting all of my thoughts into, you know."

That was the end of that conversation, however, when Professor McGonagall, no matter how many years she was out of Hogwarts, Hermione would always think of her as Professor McGonagall, approached her.

"Hello, Ms Granger. Or I supposed I should say, Mrs Malfoy."

Hermione tried to smile at her, as Ginny and Harry eased themselves away.

"Hello, Professor."

Sitting down beside her, Minerva McGonagall gave a soft smile, one of the few actual smiles that Hermione had ever seen grace her face.

"I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Hermione."

"THank you," she whispered.

"The things that I said earlier at the funeral, I wish that I would have gotten the chance to say them to you before I said them in front of everyone, but they were all true."

"Did Draco really… did he really tell you that night that he wanted to marry me?"

She nodded. "That night when he came to talk to me, at two o'clock in the morning, no doubt! That was the last thing that I ever would have expected to hear him ask. I had always expected that the death of his parents had changed him, but it wasn't until that night that I truly saw where it had led him. You helped to open his heart, Hermione. I think you were able to give him one of the greatest gifts that a person can give to another. You taught him how to love another person and to be loved in return."

"I wasn't the nicest to him when the term started that year, Professor. In fact, there were times I was downright hateful to him."

She nodded. "It's completely understandable. After all, he hadn't always been the kindest to you, had he?"

She shook her head. "We had never been what you could call friends. I never even _wanted _to be his friend. Until… he started actual being someone who was there for me."

"I always knew that he had the potential, somewhere in there. I was just never sure if it was ever going to actually show up. Then the moment he told me everything that had happened, I knew that the moment had finally arrived."

She stopped, and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Have faith, my dear."

Her words echoed throughout Hermione's mind as the rest of the afternoon continued on into the evening.

The house became quieter and quieter as everyone had left, with the only people remaining where Harry and Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Ron and Rose.

"If you ever need to talk, you know where we are," Mrs Weasley told her as she and Mr Weasley made their way out.

"Um, Hermione?" Ron said, making his way over to her.

She glanced at him.

Awkwardly, he reached out to give her a hug. "I'm really sorry about what happened, you know."

She nodded.

"I'm even sorrier that it was my fault."

She started at him, dumbfounded.

"If I hadn't mentioned… well, then you wouldn't have asked him to keep searching until he found them. And then, you wouldn't be where you are now."

"It wasn't your fault," she told him, finding it ironic that she was now telling him what it had taken George to tell her.

Trying to change the subject, he turned his eyes in the direction of where Rose and Scorpius were playing together.

"They seem to get along pretty well."

She nodded. "I think its good that he has someone his own age to play with. He's always just been surrounded by adults. I'm surprised he knows how to act around other children."

A loud scream caught their attention as they watched Rose pull a toy away from Scorpius and he reached his little hand over and slapped her, which caused her to scream.

Hermione rushed over. "Scorpius! That is not nice! You do not hit. Do you understand?"

He had a pout on his face. "She took it," he said.

"I know baby. And that wasn't nice of her either. But still, you don't hit. Do you understand?"

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Now tell Rose you're sorry."

"Sowwy Rose."

Within moments, the two of them were playing again as if nothing had ever happened.

"You're a really good mother, Hermione."

His words caught her off guard. She hadn't realized he'd been watching her.

"You're a natural at it."

"I just do what needs to be done," she said, almost uncomfortable at the praise she was being given.

He shook his head. "That isn't what I mean. I mean, just watching you, with something as simple as telling him when he's in trouble. You can tell that you mean it, that you're serious and all, but the love you have for him never falters."

"You're a great father, Ron. Rose is lucky to have you."

"She's definitely made a difference in my life. You know, until I found out about her, I never even knew if I wanted to have children. But now, I wouldn't trade her for the world."

She couldn't quite get over the change that was so evident in Ron. Becoming a father really had changed him. All for the better.


End file.
